Jan. 3, 2011

Olympic silver medalist Samantha Peszek will miss the beginning of the 2011 gymnastics season after suffering a foot fracture in practice Sunday. She is expected to be out until mid-season.

"It was an unfortunate fluke accident," said UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field. "We're thankful that it's not more serious than that, and we're looking forward to having her ready by mid-season. We're also hopeful this will be a blessing in disguise, as it will give her more time to recuperate from her previous ankle injury."

Peszek was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2007 U.S. squads that won gold medals at the World Championships and Pan American Games. In 2008, she won the bronze medal in the all-around at the Tyson American Cup and finished fourth at both the USA Championships and Olympic Team Trials. In her first year of competition at the senior level in 2007, she won the vault and floor at the USA vs. Great Britain international competition and earned a seventh-place finish in the all-around at the national championships. At the junior level, she was the national champion on vault in 2005.

The defending NCAA Champion Bruins open the season on Friday, Jan. 7 at Utah and will also host the Pac-10 Women's Gymnastics Showcase, featuring all seven Pac-10 Gymnastics Teams, on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 pm in Pauley Pavilion.