Another swimmer collapses on pool deck at Paris Olympics
A second swimmer has collapsed after racing at the Paris Olympics, in worrying scenes on the final day of action in the pool.
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There were worrying scenes at the pool in Paris as another swimmer appeared to collapse on the final night of swimming action.
The USA claimed two gold medals to climb ahead of Australia with eight golds to seven - the Americans haven’t been beaten in the swimming medal tally since Melbourne 1956.
One of those golds came in the women’s 4x100m medley relay, where America’s team of Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske set a new world record to finish the meet on a high.
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeon and Mollie O’Callaghan claimed silver.
But in concerning scenes post-race, it’s believed Japan’s Rikako Ikee collapsed after the event. Japan finished fifth in the final.
Ikee was making her way from broadcast interviews to the mixed zone when it appeared she collapsed.
She was surrounded my medical officials as she lay on the ground. Towels were used to shield Ikee as she was carried out of view.
Ikke, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019, has made a comeback to the pool to compete at her home Games in Tokyo and now the Paris Olympics.
The 24-year-old has spent time training in Australia and the likes of Aussie Olympic legend Emma McKeon rallied around her during her battle with leukaemia.
It comes days after Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka collapsed on the pool deck following a heat of the 200m individual medley.
Potocka was left motionless on the side of the pool after her seventh-placed heat swim, with medical officials rushing from all corners of the stadium to assist.
The medical officials quickly applied oxygen and laid her onto a stretcher to carry her out of the stadium to a round of applause from the crowd.
The action in the pool was delayed for about 10 minutes as Potocka was taken out of the arena and into the medical tent.
A statement from Slovakia shortly after revealed Potocka was asthmatic and didn’t have her inhaler with her in the arena.
“Tamara has asthma. This whole combination of nervous and physical tension while she did not have her inhaler immediately available to use contributed to the creation of this problem,” Slovakia’s team leader, Ivana Lange, said in a statement.
“She received oxygen and necessary medication, her condition is constantly monitored. A few minutes ago, the doctor told me that she must be monitored for several more hours.”
Potocka took to social media after recovering and detailed how she had gone out too fast in her heat and the exhaustion caught up to her by the end of the race.
“I told myself that I would go all out and leave my soul in the pool, and that actually happened,” she wrote.
“Unfortunately, due to total exhaustion, I couldn’t leave on my own, so they had to carry me on a stretcher. No, I didn’t drop out or have an asthma attack‼️
“I just couldn’t breathe and move my whole body. what do you think it feels like to be watched by 15,000 people?
“I wanted to do well so much, that I started too fast, but because I am a fighter and I didn’t want to give up, it caught up with me at the end of the track, because I wanted to squeeze everything out of myself.
“But that happens when an athlete reaches the very bottom of her strength, just to achieve the best possible result and please her loved ones.
“Anyway, I’m fine and I can finally say that I’m an OLYMPIAN.”
The swimming action wrapped up with Australia’s Meg Harris claiming a superb silver in the 50m freestyle, and American Bobby Finke breaking Sun Yang’s longstanding world record in the 1500m freestyle.
Originally published as Another swimmer collapses on pool deck at Paris Olympics
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