Bale's London 2012 dreams in tatters as injury forces withdrawal from Team GB squad

By Andrew Warshaw

June 30 – Team GB’s chances of picking up a men’s medal at London 2012 have suffered a major blow with the news that Wales and Tottenham Hotspur star Gareth Bale will be unavailable due to injury.

The 22-year-old (pictured top) was expected to be one of the key non-English players announced by coach Stuart Pearce on Monday (July 2), but is reported to have suffered a recurrence of an old back and hip injury.

The highly regarded wide midfielder, who has just signed a new four-year deal with his English club side – rather than, as anticipated, opt for an overseas move to Spain or Italy – is understood to be reluctant to risk aggravating the problem further, with the new Premier League season just seven weeks away.

After the highly publicised omission of former England captain David Beckham (pictured below) as one of the three over-age players in the Team GB squad, Bale’s absence will be a further disappointment to those who have bought tickets for the football tournament.

He had previously made little secret of his desire to represent Britain at the Olympics, even though the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish Football Associations have been opposed to providing players for fear of losing their individual national status within FIFA, world football’s governing body.

“I want to play in the Olympics,” Bale declared in May last year.

“I think it would be a great experience.

“You see it with the British and Irish Lions in rugby: they come together as a unit and play against other countries.

“It’s great and there’s no reason why that can’t happen with football.

“At the moment Wales haven’t qualified for a major tournament in I don’t know how many years, so it would be nice to play in one against the best countries in the world.”

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