25-year-old, 90-kg member of the U.S. Wrestling Team sustained an injury to his right knee. He complained of instability and pain. The athlete had diffuse joint-line tendernes over the femoral attachment of the medial collateral ligament. After testing they suspected a grade 2 tear of the MCL. He finished out the round and went on to earn the silver medal.
After the competition they got a positive Lachman result. The knees was stiff and swollen. 90 ml of blood was drained out of his knee. X-rays wouldn't have shown anything unless it was an MCL which would have shown an increase in the space between the tibia and femur. On arrival of reaching the United States he was examined arthroscopically. He was diagnosed with a grade 3 tear of the ACL and a partial tear of the lateral meniscus.
Treatment was a partial meniscectomy and conservative aproach was chosen by the patient. He went with rehabilitation which was to get him prepaired for the Olympic trials. He had an 80% chance that he would get by with rehabilitation for 9 months to a year. There was only a 20-30% chance that he would get by indefenitely. There was a risk of of reinjury to the miniscus in the first year. Reconstruction could put him out for a year.
He went on to win the 90-kg division. He still had a positive Lachman test but said his knee was stable. As of 1989, the athlete was still wrestling at the international level.