The 22-year-old from Sydney admitted that she had been terrified about competing at the Games for a long period.

She revealed she was pulling out of the event shortly before a footbridge under construction near the main stadium collapsed injuring at least 23 people, all of whom were said to be construction workers.

The overhead bridge was set to connect a car park with the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as showpiece athletic events for the Games.

The injured people, five of them in serious condition, were taken to hospital in an incident that appears to reinforce Samuels’ worries about Delhi.

"Just the thought of travelling to New Delhi, it frightens me," said Samuels, who won the world title in Berlin last year.

"For a couple of weeks I’ve struggled to sleep, felt ill, haven’t been able to train properly.

"The closer the deadline gets, the scarier the situation has become."

Samuels is the first Australian athlete to withdraw from the Games officially and admitted that weekend reports of gunmen in New Delhi firing on a tourist bus with semi-automatic weapons had been a breaking point for her.

"We’re not talking about an event that’s a year away any more," said Samuels, the bronze medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

"These are real situations, real people being shot at.

"I got my Commonwealth Games uniform delivered today and I couldn’t open it.

"It’s still sitting in a box, which is tough because I’ve been preparing for this event since September last year and my goal for the past two years has been to win gold in Delhi.

"I love throwing, love competing, love representing Australia.

"It’s why this decision has really stressed me out.

"I hope people don’t think I’m letting them down but at the end of the day this is sport.

"It’s not worth risking your life."

The high profile boycott is a further blow the organisers of the competition certainly did not need as Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Mike Fennell yesterday warned the Athletes Village was not up to standard.

This came after New Zealand threatened to pull out of the Games after the team’s Chef de Mission Dave Currie gave a damming assessment of the athlete’s accommodation saying it is "not yet ready for athlete arrival" and following the shootings last week and the collapse of the bridge today; the Commonwealth Games in the Indian capital appears to be close to breaking point.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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