Yesterday, 17-year-old Chinese gymnast Sang Lan remained in a Long Island hospital bed, unable to move her legs, learning about the severity of her condition from doctors who required interpreters to deliver their somber news.

``She has begun to realise the seriousness of her injuries,'' the chief doctor in the case said.

Sang's parents remained half a world away, trying to get the appropriate visas to see their injured child a trip that was likely their first outside China, officials said. And an experimental treatment of Sang, the 1997 Chinese National vault champion, was expected to start once a frustrating language barrier was cleared.

``We showed Sang Lan her X-rays and explained in more detail the extent of what has happened to her,'' said Dr. Brock Schnebel, the Goodwill Games' chief medical officer.

Sang, injured in a botched landing during a Tuesday warm-up for the games,was still in critical but stable condition at the Nassau County Medical Centre. She was expected to receive treatment with a new synthetic protein designed to combat nerve damage later yesterday.

But before that could start, hospital officials needed consent forms signed by a representative of China's delegation. The complicated forms were painstakingly read by interpreters to members of the Chinese delegation during the course of the day.

``Because of liability concerns, everything must be explained, and nobody speaks English,'' hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg said. ``We want to make sure they understand everything.''

Sang's parents were due on Saturday night, hours after planned fusion surgery to stabilise their daughter's spine. The family lives in the fairly remote town of Ningbo, in Shanghai.