Tokyo 2020 - ‘I thought I lost an eye’ – Team GB’s Hector Pardoe explains injury that prompted marathon swim withdrawal
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Updated 05/08/2021 at 01:56 GMT
Hector Pardoe: “I couldn’t see anything, I thought my eye had fallen out in the water. I was going up to the lifeguard saying ‘My eye! My eye! Is it okay?’ They weren’t giving me a very precise opinion, then I had to get out after that.” You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.
Swimmers pass the refuelling station as they compete in the men's 10km marathon swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo on August 5, 2021
Image credit: Getty Images
Team GB’s Hector Pardoe revealed he thought he lost an eye when a stray elbow forced him to withdraw from the men’s marathon swim at Tokyo 2020.
Reigning world champion Florian Wellbrock dominated to win gold in the open-water 10km event, but Pardoe was unable to finish after suffering a cut above his eye.
Pardoe required medical attention immediately after climbing out of the water, and the Montpellier-based swimmer spoke of his horrific ordeal in the warm waters of Tokyo Bay – having feared his eye “had fallen out”.
“It wasn’t really what I expected from the start, it started really fast from the front. Really warm conditions that I’m not used to, I’ve never really done a race in such hot waters,” Pardoe told the BBC.
“I started to panic when I was behind. I could see any chance of a top five was over, I was just trying to secure a top-10 finish. I was managing to do well to catch the group up, feeling okay.
Then in the last lap, took an elbow to the face. I thought I lost the eye. My goggles came off completely. I always like to think whenever I get an injury I’d be able to finish the race, but the goggles completely fell off and I couldn’t even get them.
“I couldn’t see anything, I thought my eye had fallen out in the water. I was going up to the lifeguard saying ‘My eye! My eye! Is it okay?’ They weren’t giving me a very precise opinion, then I had to get out after that.”
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