Roy-Allan Burch, the Bermuda swimmer, expects to be out for nine months as he recovers from surgery on both knees after a freak fall during a warm-up session with his team in North Carolina.

Burch, 29, underwent surgery the next day on March 27 and is now in a wheelchair and facing a long lay-off which will rule him out of the Pan Am Games in Toronto this summer, although he is hoping to be fit for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.

“I was warming up for training, doing some jumps, and I didn’t even get off the ground, when I went to jump my legs came out from under me,” Burch said.

“It’s very confusing because I do this stuff all the time, but I guess this was the final straw, that my tendons couldn’t take it. It was in the gym next to the pool.”

Burch, who competes for SwimMac Carolina, added: “I couldn’t get up, it felt like no pain I had ever felt before.

“As I was falling my legs were above my head and I landed on my back, in a lot of pain and couldn’t bend my leg, so I laid out flat and waited for help to come.

“A few members of my team were there and the coach was watching and they immediately knew I wasn’t right because I was writhing in pain. They were quick to get some help.

“With my right leg the doctor said I already had some micro tears from when he went in to repair it, muscle fibre frayed apart.

“With my left leg the tendon snapped so hard my knee cap flipped over and both kneecaps were sitting on top of my quads.”

The freak injury came at a time when Burch was on course to reach the qualifying standards for the 50 and 100 metres freestyle by next week. He remains confident of qualifying for the Olympics.

“I’ll be doing therapy for about six to nine months, but I still have enough time to get to the Olympics,” he said.

“There’s plenty of time for that, but there is a small window, obviously, to make my qualification, but I’ll have enough time to get in shape.

“I’m in a wheelchair and can’t stand up at all. I stood up today for the first time since the injury, but that was only for a moment to get into the wheelchair.

“I can’t get negative and start to think it’s not going to work, I just have to trust the process.”

The doctors told Burch that his injuries were more similar to high-impact injuries.

“The doctors were surprised to see me with a double tendon injury, they usually only see it with football players or car crashes,” Burch said. “It speaks to the amount of work I was putting in and power putting out and it gives me confidence to get back. I’m motivated, obviously, and will be doing everything I can to get back. ”

“I was fortunate that it didn’t happen in the water and I drowned. Fortunately, with the professional nature of my team we had a great team of therapists and doctors and I was able to be with one of the best doctors in the area for my surgery.

“He doesn’t normally work on Saturdays and cancelled an important event in order to perform my surgery.”