Video footage has appeared online showing an Olympic cyclist suffering a serious fall. French competitor Loana Lecomte crashed and flew over her handlebars during the Mountain Bike Cross Country final at Élancourt Hill in Paris. The incident happened while the cyclist descended down a hill through ragged terrain, and her wheel got caught on a protruding rock. Lecomte lay motionless on the ground for several seconds as other competitors swerved around her. Paramedics eventually arrived and removed her from the scene.
Ms. Lecomte later described the incident to reporters and said the “lights went out.” She described her injuries as a “little concussion, major bruises, and a few stitches.”
There were several other incidents in cycling events in the opening days of the Paris Olympics, including one at the women’s triathlon, which involved a number of competitors. Guam’s Manami Iijima was one of several athletes who took a nasty fall at the same corner of the designated track. Norwegian Lotte Miller fell at the same spot, as did Australian Sophie Linn, who told reporters that mixed weather had made the route difficult to navigate. “That was every single possible adverse weather condition,” she said.
Diving competitors have also endured injury in Paris, with some slipping and crashing into boards. Australian diver Anabelle Smith said she “screamed underwater” after hitting a diving board during the synchronized event.
In French Polynesia, around 10,000 miles from Paris, a surfer was left red-faced when he dove under a wave, and his swimming trunks gave way, exposing his bare behind. “I didn’t know mooning was a sport,” one commentator remarked.
The Olympic Games rarely pass without incident, and historically, some have included fatalities and even terrorist attacks. A bomb exploded at the Atlanta Olympics in Georgia in 1996, killing two and wounding more than 100. FBI investigations eventually led to Eric Rudolph, who was suspected of involvement in explosions at a gay bar and an abortion clinic. He explained that he bombed the Olympic Games to protest America’s acceptance of abortion.
In 1972, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were murdered by a Palestinian militant group called Black September.
