Dancing With the Stars
Misty May-Treanor & Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Eliminated 10.06.08 (Due To Injury)

What exactly happened to your ankle?
Misty: It was Friday night...we were doing stage rehearsal and our last run-through; we were doing the jive. I stepped back with my left foot and felt a pop and heard it. I thought I'd run into the judges' stairs. But. Karina and Rocco were there; I said to them, "Did I just run into the stairs?" I felt clumsy. They said I was far from it. So it's that feeling of getting hit from behind in your foot by a baseball bat. Then I couldn't put weight on it. I went to Cedars-Sinai and the doctor there evaluated it and said it was a ruptured Achilles tendon. And then I took an MRI.
Maksim: Yeah, I knew as soon as it happened, we actually both knew right away. We are both athletes and have been around injuries all our lives, so through both of our injuries, we can make diagnoses the second they happen. I was hoping she had popped a ligament and not her Achilles ... but she is strong and has access to the best in the field, so she will be back.

We were sad to hear you won't be able to continue.
Misty: My dancing days are over right now. At least for six months. But you know what? That gives me time to visualize and to mentally just work ...
Maksim: I am devastated and I didn't know that about myself. It's been a very emotional few days.

Had you ever had an injury like this in sports/volleyball?
Misty: You know, I've [had knee injuries before]. That was a hard process, coming back from that, but I came back from that even stronger. So I'm going to stay very disciplined in my rehab and ... this is just one of those things that you have to be patient with. You can't try to move too fast, but I feel I'm going to be okay.

Do you want to come back to the dance floor?
Misty: I do! Now that I got a taste of it. I felt this could be [my] breakout week, especially with the jive. We'd been working so hard. Just with the small taste I got out of it. After I get back from this, I want to take classes [and dance again].
Maksim: It would be the thing for her to do - to rehabilitate and come back the season after next. I think that would be a great story and I would be proud to be a part of that.

Maybe you could return for another season, once recovered?
Misty: If they asked me back, I would love to come back. I feel I got the short end of the stick; I felt it ended earlier than I wanted it to. If I had the opportunity to come back, I'd ask Maks to go through it with me again. I felt I was just starting to get it! I was just starting to get what my body was supposed to be doing. I'm still going to support the show. I love the show. I love what it's about. I'm going to support [the other celebrities] and now I can vote!
Maksim: This is like when you get eliminated. The only difference is it sucks! I'd rather be eliminated, so you can make your peace with it. But I have a lot of stuff to do at home that I'd have missed had I been on the show. I have a competition event in October that I can attend - which is amazing. I'll definitely be back for result shows.