Slovakian athlete Tamara Potocka collapsed after completing a swim at the Olympic Games this morning, leaving spectators at the Paris Aquatics Centre shocked as she was hurriedly carried away on a stretcher.
The 21-year-old competed in a heat of the women’s 200-meter individual medley at 10:30am BST this morning and clambered out of the pool having come in seventh, missing out on qualification for the later rounds.
But moments later her legs buckled and she tumbled to the ground, sitting poolside for a few seconds before slumping backwards even as another eight swimmers lined up for the next heat.
Organisers realised something was wrong and postponed the next swim as medical staff descended on the scene.
Medics quickly placed an oxygen mask over the face of the young Slovak, who was lying motionless, before carefully loading her onto a stretcher and rushing her out of the La Defense arena as her British rival Abbie Wood watched on in horror.
Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka is taken on stretcher from the pool deck after collapsing following a heat of the women’s 200-meter individual medley at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024
Slovakian athlete Tamara Potocká collapsed after completing a swim at the Olympic Games this morning
Potocka is seen posing at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Budapest
For a few moments following Potocka’s swim, nobody seemed to have realised the Slovak athlete was experiencing any difficulty.
The live broadcast showed how the competitors for the next heat had taken to the poolside and were stripping off, seemingly seconds away from leaping into the water, as commentators began previewing the competition.
But the camera then pulled back to reveal how Potocka, wearing a blue skinsuit, had not left the venue and was sitting mere feet from the poolside, clearly experiencing considerable fatigue.
She was still there as the swimmers for the next heat took their marks, and seconds later she slumped backwards and was seen lying prone on the tiles.
Commentators clocked that something wasn’t right as the next heat was delayed and medical staff rushed poolside.
‘This doesn’t look good… 15,000 people are now watching an athlete surrounded by medical staff and I can assure you it’s absolutely silent in here,’ one broadcaster said as they witnessed medical staff crowding around the swimmer.
‘They’ve got a stretcher out, they’ve got an oxygen mask on the athlete, and I’m going to say… this looks very serious,’ he said.
‘They’ve got the neck brace around so I can only imagine that someone has hit their head and has some kind of trauma – they want to immobilise the athlete.
‘We hope that there’s nothing more than that…’
After a tense 30 minutes, the venue’s media manager confirmed Potocka was conscious and under medical assessment, but gave no further update on her condition.
Potocka finished seventh in her heat in a time of 2 minutes, 14.20 seconds.
The time was not fast enough to advance her to the semifinals of the event and she was eliminated from the competition.
Her British rival Abbie Wood finished fourth in a time of 2:10.95, just behind Australia’s Ella Ramsay in third with a time of 2:10.75.
