The French race walker faced a mid-race bowel incident during the 2016 Olympics but finished the event in eighth place.
A French athlete experienced a dramatic and unfortunate turn of events during a crucial moment in his Olympic career turning what could have been a golden moment into a struggle to reach the finish line.
Yohann Diniz, competing in the grueling 50km race walk at the 2016 Games in Rio faced a mid-race ordeal that saw his hopes of an Olympic medal dramatically falter due to severe gastrointestinal distress.
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The race began with high hopes for Diniz who was the favorite to win.
With three European Championships under his belt and a world record in the same event expectations were high.
However, 15km into the race, the athlete’s pace slowed, and he was visibly in distress, clutching his stomach.
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Catch Samuel live on Friday as he takes on the 20km walking race
Witnesses reported that moments before collapsing, Diniz was seen trying to clean what appeared to be faeces from the back of his legs using a sponge.
“And moments before the Frenchman went to ground, it is reported that he was sponging away a brown substance – thought to be faeces – from the back of his legs,” as reported by Mirror UK.
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Although his ordeal was far from over, Diniz pressed on and crossed the finish line in eighth place, completing the race in 3:46:43.
The gold medal eventually went to Slovakia’s Matej Toth, who finished with a time of 03:40:58. Australia’s Jared Tallent claimed the silver, and Japan’s Hirooki Arai took bronze.
Diniz’s Olympic journey began at the Beijing Games in 2008, where he had to withdraw 30km into the race due to stomach and thigh pains.
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Samuel Gathimba gave his all in the men’s 20km race walk finishing the event unlike at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where he pulled out of the race halfway to the finish line.
His 2012 Olympics in London also ended in disappointment when he was disqualified for a technical violation just as he seemed poised to finish strong.
He then captured three gold medals at the European Championships and stood on the podium at the World Championships.
His world record was set in 2014 at the European Championships in Zurich, where he clocked a time of 3:32:33.
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Find out the time athletes from across the globe compete as Kenyan athletes gear up for Paris 2024 Olympics, with athletics events set from August 1-11.
It might stand for a long time since the 50km event is no longer part of the Olympic program.
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