Beijing Olympic rowing champion Free injured while cycling

Beijing Olympic rowing pairs champion Duncan Free has undergone surgery on a broken leg after being hit by a car while cycling.

It will cost him the chance of winning a world title as the world championships to be held in Slovenia in late August.

Rowing Australia said Thursday that Free was riding with three other rowers on Wednesday, his 38th birthday, when a car knocked him from his bike.

The surgery to insert a rod through his broken femur was successful and he still hopes to compete in next year's London Games, which would be his fifth Olympics.

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