Team GB swimming star Hector Pardoe thought he’d lost an eye after a stray elbow to the face put an end to his 10km marathon bid.
The 20-year-old was forced to stop just a couple of km from the end of the race after he was hit in the face.
His goggles were taken off in the process and he suffered several cuts around his eye.
The Welshman's Olympic dreams ended prematurely, but he was just thankful to have his eye still intact.
Pardoe said post-race: “On the last lap, I took an elbow to the face, I thought I had lost the eye. My goggles completely came off.
“I 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. And I couldn’t see anything. I thought my eye had fallen out into the water.”
He added: “And I was going up to the lifeguards saying ‘my eye, my eye – is it OK?’
”And they weren’t giving me a very decisive opinion. And yeah, I had to get out after that.”
The long-distance swimmer took to Instagram and posted a pair of photos of his swollen red eye with a huge plaster on top.
Staying in good spirits despite the setback, he penned: “Elbow to the eye at 8k, goggles snapped off and sunk. Still smiling though.”
Former Olympic swimmer Andy Jameson, who won bronze in the 100m butterfly at the1988 Seoul Games, was commentating on the race, also posted an image of Pardoe’s eye on social media.
Jameson wrote: “Utterly brutal … Great Britain’s @hector_pardoe had to withdraw from the men’s Olympic Marathon Swim (10k Open Water) very close to the end after receiving a forearm smash to the eye socket! Nasty … especially considering he had swimming goggles on! Great effort up ‘til then!”
Pardoe’s Olympic debut may have ended in disappointing fashion, but we hope he will be ready to go for gold once again at the 2024 Games in Paris.
