Hottie Leryn Franco competed in the Pan-Am games despite a scare with swine flu

Leryn Franco, the Paraguayan javelin thrower who set the internet ablaze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, recently competed at the Pan-Am games in Guadalajara. Her showing wasn’t spectacular, placing 13th out of 15 competitors, but she had a reasonably good explanation for the poor performance.

Franco was hospitalized for ten days after a bout with swine flu and acute pharyngitis according to Terra Deportes.

I came here with the probability of not compete because the liver disease affected me. I had made three previous checks and worse. Even so I asked to come because a month ago had made the Paraguayan record 56 meters,” said Franco the journalists.

“They gave me the opportunity to recover here and I recovered more mentally than physically. Emotionally I felt good, you always have faith and one sometimes thinks that enough,” said the Paraguayan.

(That’s one of those Spanish-English translations from Google so my apologies if it’s not grammatically correct.)

Despite the lackluster effort, Franco still intends to compete at the London Olympics next summer. Judging from her career best throw of 56 meters however, it’s not enough to put her in contention for a metal. The current world record stands at 72.28 from Barbora Špotáková of the Czech Republic.

Leryn Franco, who steals the beautiful sighs in athletics [Terra]

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