There are certain injuries that the human body can suffer physically which, from a mental standpoint, are nightmarish to even think about -- let alone experience. Thankfully, Great Britain's Hector Pardoe did not have to endure an injury few can stomach, despite his own thoughts.
According to a report by Michael Hincks of Eurosport, Pardoe withdrew from men's marathon swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics after suffering an eye injury he initially feared was the loss of his eyeball. Pardoe suffered a cut above the eye after taking an elbow to the face during the last lap of the open-water, 10km event, and was unable to finish as he sought immediate medical attention.
"I couldn't see anything, I thought my eye had fallen out in the water," Pardoe said. "I was going up to the lifeguard saying 'My eye! My eye! Is it okay?' They weren't giving me a very precise opinion, then I had to get out after that."
Pardoe had been trying to secure a Top 10 finish when the incident happened, which caused his goggles to fall off his face in addition to the slice above his eye.
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! pic.twitter.com/3ODAh0LZab
— Andy Jameson (@Andyjamesonswim) August 4, 2021
Pardoe's injury illustrates the high-contact nature of marathon swimming, and came in a race that took place in exceptionally warm water. According to a report by Corrine Heller of Yahoo Sports, temperatures in the Tokyo Bay surpassed 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
As for the race itself, defending world champion Florian Wellbrock of Germany dominated the event to earn the gold medal by the largest margin of victory in Olympic marathon swimming history. Wellbrock finished in one hour, 48 minutes, and 33.7 seconds, with a margin of victory of 25.3 seconds over Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky.
Wellbrock's gold medal complemented his bronze medal that he won in the 1500m freestyle pool events earlier in the Games.
