Ethiopian track and field athlete Lamecha Girma has regained consciousness and is able to speak after a horrific fall during the 3,000m steeplechase final at the Olympic Games in Paris on Wednesday night.
The world record holder hit his knee on a barrier on the final lap of the race and slammed his head on the track, after which he lay motionless with a neck corset placed over his neck until paramedics carried him away on a stretcher.
The 23-year-old, who won silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics and the past two world championships, was taken to hospital for examinations, after which his team confirmed to L’Equipe that he was conscious and able to speak.
Paris 2024 organisers said in a statement: “Following a fall in the 3,000m hurdles, Lamecha Girma received immediate treatment from the medical team on site. Our thoughts are with him and we wish him a speedy recovery. Paris 2024 is in close contact with the Ethiopian NOC to receive updates on his condition.”
Morocco’s Sofiane El Bakari became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic steeplechase title since Finland’s Vormali Isohoro did so at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Kenneth Lukes of the United States won the silver medal, and Abraham Kibiwott of Kenya won the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, in the medals decided on Wednesday night, Jamaica’s Roger Stona won the men’s discus gold medal with an Olympic record throw of 70 meters, beating world record holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania by just three centimeters to the silver medal.
In the women’s pole vault, Australia’s Nina Kennedy cleared 4.90 metres to win ahead of American Katie Moon.
Meanwhile, Noah Lyles advanced to the 200-meter final, moving one step closer to his dream of winning a double Olympic gold medal in individual sprints at Paris. The American won the 100-meter gold medal by five-thousandths of a second on Sunday night and needed to finish in the top two in the second semifinal heat to automatically qualify for Thursday night’s final.
The camera cut to Lyles on the big screen, who stuck out his tongue, laughed and crossed his fingers.
As in the 100m final, Lyles had the slowest start of the eight competitors but made up for it by finishing in 20.08 seconds and second behind Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in 19.96 seconds.
Lyles’ time was the third-fastest among the semifinalists behind Tebogo, the only semifinalist to break 20 seconds.
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Amber Anning recorded a personal best time of 49.47 in the last of the three semifinal races to book a spot in Friday’s women’s 400m final.
The 23-year-old, who had already led Great Britain to bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay, battled Natalia Kaczmarek to the end to win by two-hundredths of a second over the Polish challenger.
“I’m very excited. My first Olympics, my first Olympic final so I’m very happy. I achieved a personal best so it means a lot to me. Like everyone, my goal is to get into the final and whatever happens, happens. I’m looking forward to Friday,” Anning said.
“I still feel like I have some fitness left so it’s now about going back, recovering properly and then talking to my coach and seeing what we can tweak for the final.”
There was also good news for Ireland’s Rashidat Adeleke, who made it through to the semi-finals by finishing second, but Britain’s Victoria Ouluogu and Raviai Nielsen failed to make the final.
Tade Ojola of Great Britain competed in the second heat of the men’s 110m semi-finals but finished in seventh place, not progressing to the final.
