A weightlifter’s arm snapped in multiple places while she attempted a 110kg snatch. Gaelle Nayo Ketchanke, 30, was competing in the women’s 76kg category for France at the European Weightlifting Championships in Batumi, Georgia.
The athlete had already tried the weight twice and failed both times.
But she approached the bar for a third attempt – which was being broadcast by the European Weightlifting Federation through a live stream.
Ketchanke eased through the first part of the motion and flicked the bar from her waist up to behind her head.
Yet as she squatted, ready to push through her legs to stand up and complete the lift, her left arm gave way to horrified screams from the crowd.
Her left elbow had snapped and bent behind the back of her body as she tried to drop the weight safely.
But the weight of the bar and the grip from her lifting gloves kept it in her hands – and as she tried to slide it on to her back she fell and it crushed her on the floor.
The stream flicks to the French team as they watch their teammate writhe in agony after the ghastly episode.
The camera’s microphones still pick up the strongwoman’s harrowing screams as she is treated by medics, despite the commentators attempts to avoid the subject.
Impactante lesión de Gaelle Nayo Ketchanke en el campeonato de Europa de halterofilia. Codo izquierdo. #Halterofilia pic.twitter.com/JCAqhtwtUQ
— Samuel Hernando (@SamuHernando) April 11, 2019
Ketchanke, who won silver at last years championships in Romania, was rushed to hospital after leaving the stage on a stretcher, according to Inside the Games.
She has broken her left arm in two places and suffered a dislocated elbow, reports suggest.