A chilling scene unfolded Friday morning at the 2024 Olympics when Slovakia swimmer Tamara Potocka collapsed after the women’s 200-meter individual medley heat due to an asthma attack, per reports.
The 21-year-old was carried off on a stretcher while wearing a neck brace, and later was conscious at the hospital and communicated with doctors, according to BBC.
“Tamara has asthma,” Slovakia team leader Ivana Lange said in a statement, per ESPN. “This whole combination of nervous and physical tension while she did not have her inhaler immediately available to use contributed to the creation of this problem.
“She received oxygen and necessary medication. Her condition is constantly monitored. A few minutes ago, the doctor told me that she must be monitored for several more hours.”
Potocka is a first-time Olympics entrant and she collapsed right after exiting the pool at Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France, following her seventh-place finish in the third heat.Medical professionals immediately came to her aid and she was placed on a stretcher with an oxygen mask approximately one minute after collapsing, according to the Associated Press.
It’s unknown if she received CPR, per the AP’s report.
“This doesn’t look good,” one Olympics announcer said during the scary scene, as transcribed by The Sun. “Fifteen-thousand people are now watching an athlete surrounded by medical staff and I can assure you it’s absolutely silent in here.“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.”
The scary scene ultimately delayed the start of the fourth heat, The Athletic reported.
A fellow competitor acknowledged the reality of the harrowing development.
“Of course that’s something in the back of your mind, but we do every day push ourselves to the limit,” Israel swimmer Lea Polonsky, who competed in a later heat, told the AP. “You always know something like that can happen. It’s not something you think about during the race, but it’s always there.”
Potocka missed the cut by finishing with time of 2:14.20, 4.30 seconds behind heat winner Summer McIntosh of Canada in the eight-woman field.
