faAn Olympic hopeful injured during an arrest has said he does not know when he will be able to cycle again.
Nicholas Dlamini, a South African cyclist, broke his arm after he was detained by park rangers in Cape Town while on a bike ride.
“For the moment, I am unable to say when I’ll be back on a bike”, he said in a Facebook post, also sharing an image of himself in a hospital bed.
“Nicholas’ first step was to undergo surgery, and this went well,” his manager Mark Sinclair told The Independent, “but no prognosis can be made at this early stage as to when he might be physically and mentally able to return to full training.”
A video shared on social media showed park rangers pushing Dlamini against a van before bundling him into the back of the vehicle.
His cycling team said Dlamini fractured his arm during the incident and condemned “the level and scale of physicality employed by the officials in subduing Nicholas”.
The South African cyclist called the experience “extremely upsetting” and said he has lawyers to represent him after the “terrible incident”.
“For now things are a little uncomfortable and I am still coming to terms with what happened,” he said.
A statement from Table Mountain National Park and SANParks said: “A cyclist suffered a broken arm after he resisted arrest.”
It said a cyclist was confronted over not having a ticket or permit to cycle through a park section before “the situation spiralled, causing the suspect to injure himself”.
South Africa's minister of environment, forestry and fisheries said she has visited the cyclist in hospital and ordered the suspension of the officials involved, as well as an independent investigation into the incident.
NTT Pro Cycling called the injury a “major setback” for Dlamini, who had his sights set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Dlamini said he will be represented by international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
