Match TV recalls cases when Olympic medalists passed away as a result of sudden and ridiculous circumstances.

Gennady Komnatov, 29 years old - cycling

Rooms Gennady / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Somov

The 1972 Munich Olympic champion (pictured second from left) died in a car accident on April 1, 1979. Komnatov was driving his car at night and did not notice the sprinkler parked so that part of its body protruded onto the road. The collision occurred at a very high speed, the athlete died immediately.

Valery Kharlamov, 33 years old - ice hockey

Member of the USSR national ice hockey team Valery Kharlamov 01/01/1976 / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Yuri Somov

The 1972 and -76 Olympic champion died on August 27, 1981 as a result of a car accident that claimed the life of not only the player himself, but also his wife Irina, as well as her cousin Sergei Ivanov. Everyone knows this story, it is disassembled in detail, formed the basis of documentaries and feature films. There are many versions, but the official one is that Irina lost control on a slippery road.

Sergey Khlebnikov, 43 years old - speed skating

Sergey Khlebnikov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Guneev

The two-time silver medalist of the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo drowned on June 12, 1999, while swimming in the Mitinsky ponds. The cause of death was called a cramp, which could have happened due to hypothermia against the background of the heat that was then standing in Moscow.

Dmitry Nelyubin, 33 years old - cycling

The Olympic champion of Seoul-1988 in the team pursuit was stabbed to death on New Year's Eve 2005 by five people from Kabardino-Balkaria. Four years later, all five were taken, but three detainees were subsequently released due to the statute of limitations. In the end, only two, the Azhagoev brothers, were imprisoned: Alimbek, who inflicted a mortal blow, was given 18 years of strict regime, Edik - three years in a colony-settlement.

Alimbek stabbed Nelyubin to death for celebrating too loudly New Year setting off fireworks in the yard of his house. At the trial, he did not repent of his deed and said that he had nothing to ask for forgiveness.

Elena Romanova, 43 years old - athletics

The 1992 Olympic champion in the 3000 meters (pictured left) passed away on January 28, 2007. The circumstances are mysterious: the athlete was found to have two severe injuries incompatible with life. According to the reviews of close people, Elena had problems with alcohol. Perhaps this was the cause of death, the details of which have not been disclosed.

Alexey Prokurorov, 44 years old - cross-country skiing

Alexey Prokurorov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Guneev

The Calgary Olympic champion in the 30 km race and the silver medalist of those Games in the relay race was shot down in Vladimir on October 10, 2008. The driver who fatally knocked down Prokurorov was drunk and deprived of his license, and had previously been repeatedly brought to administrative responsibility for refusing to undergo an examination for intoxication while driving.

Natalia Lavrova, 25 years old - rhythmic gymnastics

Natalia Lavrova / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin

The first two-time in the history of its sport Olympic champion(2000, 2004, pictured right) died in a car accident on April 23, 2010. Olga, Natalya's younger sister, was driving the car. The girl lost control, the car swerved into the oncoming lane, where she collided with another car. VAZ-2114 caught fire, but by that time the driver and passenger were already dead. They had no chance of escaping, according to experts.

Besik Kudukhov, 27 years old - freestyle wrestling

Besik Kudukhov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Vladimir Baranov

The bronze medalist of the Beijing Olympics and the silver medalist of London died near Armavir in a car accident on December 29, 2013, colliding with a heavy truck in his car. The athlete's death did not prevent the IOC from disqualifying him following a recheck of a sample taken at the 2012 Games. This event caused a great public outcry, but in this moment the deceased wrestler is officially stripped of his silver Olympic medal.

Sergey Sharikov, 40 years old - fencing

double Olympic champion(1996, 2000) in saber fencing died on June 6, 2015. Driving an ATV while intoxicated (2.2 ppm), he crashed into a car driven by a 31-year-old police officer. Sharikov died from his wounds in the hospital.

Victor Potapov, 70 years old - sailing

Victor Potapov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Morgulis

Bronze medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics long life, but tragically left on December 10, 2017. The driver of the car, being drunk, crashed into another car, which as a result lost control and knocked down a pedestrian - it turned out to be Potapov.

A photo: Gray Mortimore / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru, RIA Novosti/Vladimir Baranov, RIA Novosti/Yuri Somov, RIA Novosti/Sergey Guneev, RIA Novosti/Morgulis

After an accident on the Olympic track in Whistler. The incident happened during training sessions. Kumaritashvili lost control of the sled in the last turn of the track, into which the athletes enter at an angle of 270 degrees at a speed of about 140 km/h. His sled flipped over and the 44th world-ranked luger hit the metal stop with force. The 21-year-old native of Borjomi lost consciousness from the blow. The medical staff of the track had to do a direct heart massage of the victim at the scene of the accident, after which he was loaded onto an ambulance helicopter that arrived and sent to the hospital, where he died.

A day earlier, in a training run on the track in Whistler, the Romanian luger Violeta Stramaturaru lost control, which, from hitting the limiter on a short time lost consciousness. Later, the official representative of the Romanian national team said that the athlete escaped serious injuries.

November 23, 2009 Russian bobsledder Irina Skvortsova was seriously injured during a collision of cars on the track in the German Königssee. Skvortsova was urgently taken by helicopter to the hospital in the city of Traunstein. After a series of emergency operations, the Russian woman was transferred for treatment to a medical clinic in Munich.

According to investigators, the cause of the accident on the track in Königssee was the error of the judge, who sent the Russian female crew to the track at the forbidding (red) signal of the starting traffic light.

IN December 2005 Main coach Germany skeleton and bobsleigh teams Raimund Bethge suffered serious injuries after being run over by a bob driven by an Australian crew. Bethge, considered one of the world's leading coaches, was on the track at a time when it was forbidden to do so. The crew was given the green light, but the informing judge was unable to give the command "Bob is on the track!" due to technical problems. The car overtook Betge on the lower section of the track, where the crew managed to gain maximum speed.

Bethge was flown by helicopter to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed a broken leg in both legs and multiple minor injuries.

IN 2005 Brazilian luger Renato Mizoguzzi suffered a serious head injury after losing control during

training on the new track in the Italian town of Cesana Pariol. The athlete lay in a coma for several days and lost his sight.

IN March 2004 Germany's leading bobsleigh athlete Yvonne Sernota died while training. The incident occurred on a special ice track in Schönau on Königssee. The sled of the 24-year-old athlete from Saxe-Anhalt ran over the side of the ice track and was carried off the track. Yvonne died some time after being taken to the hospital. Her teammate from Bavaria, Stefan Grandi, was seriously injured, but not life-threatening.

IN March 2003 Moscow luger athlete Ivan Goncharov, while at competitions in Krasnoyarsk, was seriously injured. As a result, doctors were forced to amputate his leg.

The tragedy occurred during a training run. On one of the bends, the crew of two, consisting of Ivan Goncharov and Valery Bespalov, flew out of the gutter and collapsed from an almost 3-meter height. There was little cover of snow to cushion the fall. The sleigh fell from above, and Ivan took the brunt of the blow. In critical condition, with numerous fractures of the pelvis and lower limbs, Goncharov was taken to a hospital in Krasnoyarsk. The athlete received multiple fractures, and doctors were forced to amputate his leg at the level of the lower third of the thigh.

IN February 2002 The tragedy occurred at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In the first attempt at the women's luge competition, the Venezuelan athlete Iginia Boccalandro turned over at the entrance to the finish line. She remained motionless in the icy chute and then with difficulty recovered from the shock of pain. Boccalandro's sledge rolled on its own, which led to another tragedy. Track worker 49-year-old Drake Self tried to stop them, but did it so unsuccessfully that his finger was cut off. The victim was sent to the hospital. And the sled, continuing on its way, crashed into the legs of another volunteer, who escaped with severe bruises.

October 28, 2001 On the bobsleigh and sledge track in the Latvian resort town of Sigulda, Latvian skeletonist Girts Ostenieks died during training. Already at the very end of the descent, the athlete at a speed of 80 km / h crashed into the bobsleigh sled of the Russian women's team, which is preparing here for training races. Ostenieks died on the way to the hospital.

The tragedy of February 12, 2010, which occurred on the Olympic bobsleigh track in Ustler with the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili shocked the whole world. For the Olympic Games, this is an extraordinary event. Some domestic publications say that the death of an athlete at the Olympics occurs for the first time. This is not true. Deaths in the history of the modern Olympics have happened before. We want to remember them.

Olympic historian David Wallechinsky counted the total, including the last one, 6 cases - 2 cases per summer games and 4 on Winter. And on winter games none of them happened during official competitions.

1912 - Summer Olympics in Stockholm

Portuguese runner Francisco Lazaro was the first athlete to die in the modern Olympics. The cause of death is believed to be severe dehydration due to the high ambient temperature. Lazaro covered most of his body with wax to prevent sunburn. But the wax clogged the skin pores, disrupting the natural evaporation of sweat from the surface of the skin. As a result, this led to severe sweating and a serious violation of the fluid balance in the athlete's body. At the 29th kilometer of the marathon distance, Lazaro fell and died of dehydration. He was 21 years old.

1960 - Summer Olympics in Rome

Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen collapsed during a race due to a heart attack. He soon died in the hospital. He was 23 years old. It was later determined that Jensen's amphetamine stimulants were the cause of the heart attack. At that time, the concept of doping, as well as the tests themselves, did not yet exist. Doping control was introduced only in 1968 at the Olympics in Mexico City.

1964 - Winter Olympics in Innsbruck

Immediately two deaths of athletes occurred on the eve of the Olympics, which was opened on January 29, 1964. Two weeks before the Olympics, Polish-born British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki died in training when his sled flew out of the gutter. January 25 at training downhill skiing killed 19-year-old Australian Ross Milne (Ross Milne), taking off during the descent from the track and crashed into a tree. It is worth noting that at that time skiers performed without helmets. These deaths forced the organizing committee of the Olympics to reconsider the safety measures for lugers and skiers. On the bobsleigh track, additional boards were added to prevent the athletes from flying out, and on the ski track, the trunks of all the trees were wrapped in straw.

1992 - Winter Olympics in Albertville

Swiss skier Nicholas Bochatay died in training the day before the closing of the Games, crashing into a snowplow.

2010 - Vancouver Winter Olympics

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in training the day before the opening of the Olympics. When leaving the last turn at a speed of about 140 km / h, Kumaritashvili flew out of the sled beyond the gutter and hit an iron pole. He was 21 years old. The official cause of the athlete's death was his own mistake. "The athlete was late exiting the 15th turn and did not have time to properly enter the next one," the official statement says. "This led to the fact that Kumaritashvili, despite all attempts, lost control of the sled, which was the cause of the tragedy."

These are the deaths of athletes, the direct cause of which was their sports activities. To this list, some add the death of Austrian sports doctor George Oberhammer (Joerg Oberhammer) at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, who crashed into a skier who flew off the track. But in this case, here you can add 9 deaths of Israeli athletes who were killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. As well as the death of a Turkish cameraman in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics due to cardiac arrest caused by an explosion in a city park, the death of his Chinese colleague in Athens 2004, and the death at the same Olympics of 76-year-old Russian photojournalist Yuri Bykovsky, and the murder of an American a tourist in Beijing in 2008 who was stabbed to death by some crazy fanatic. But these events have a very distant relation to sports.

Not so long ago, a glaring incident occurred in the history of football: Cameroonian Albert Ebosse from the JS Kabilia club died immediately after the game. The cause of death was a stone thrown at him from the stands.

We decided to recall the stories of athletes who said goodbye to life during sports competitions or right after them.

Ray Chapman

Baseball is far from the safest sport in the world: balls flying at breakneck speeds and heavy bats immediately suggest serious injuries. Nevertheless, history knows only a few deaths of athletes who were victims of an accident directly during the game.

In 1920, when baseball was only filling the first pages of its history diary, Ray Chapman entered the field. Then he was a player on the Cleveland Indians team, which on August 6 met on the field with the legendary New York Yankees. Chapman, who was usually in the shortstop position, then entered the field as a hitter. Pitcher Carl Mays threw the ball, which after a few seconds hit Chapman right in the head. The reason why Ray did not notice the ball flying towards him is unknown. But it is worth taking into account the fact that at the beginning of the last century, baseball players allowed themselves a kind of trick: they smeared the ball in the mud and only then threw it. Consequently, it was much harder for batters to spot the ball. After the impact, Chapman was taken to the clinic, where 12 hours after the incident, the athlete was overtaken by death. And although Chapman was far from the worst player in the history of baseball, the world knows about him precisely because of the circumstances of his death.

Bill Masterton

Sharp skates, heavy sticks and fast-flying pucks - that is why hockey players take to the ice in serious equipment that makes you remember the warriors of the Middle Ages. However, this was not always the case.

Bill Masterton became one of the few athletes who were not saved from death by either the prayers of the fans or high level skill. On January 13, Bill, who played for the Minnesota North Stars, dribbled the puck for high speed. He seemed to be close to a goal, but he was separated from the winning shot by a few seconds and a collision with Ron Harris from Oakland. Masterton was thrown back and hit his head on the ice. If it were at least 1980 outside the window, the athlete might have managed to save his life. But in those days, hockey players went out on the ice without a helmet, so such an incident could carry dire consequences. Actually, this is what happened in the case of Masterton. Even emergency hospitalization did not save him - the player spent two days in the hospital, after which he died. According to the people who supported him, Masterton would come to his senses from time to time and mutter something like: “I will never play again. I will not return to the ice. On the ice, he really did not return.

Ron Harris, whom Masterton collided with on the ice, has repeatedly spoken out about the incident. He partly blamed himself for what happened and said that he could not stop thinking about the death of a hockey player. Today, the name of Bill Masterton is found not only in the context of stories about his death, but also at the mention of one of the prestigious awards. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to a hockey player from the National hockey league, who, according to the jury, showed high sportsmanship and loyalty to hockey.

Edward Sanders

If we talk about safe sports, then boxing is clearly not among them. Nevertheless, the popularity of boxing does not decrease from this, in contrast to the number of athletes who are injured in the ring every day.

The stories of professional (let alone amateurs) athletes who died in the ring or received injuries incompatible with life on it cannot fit in a whole book. But, recalling such tragic cases, one cannot help but pay attention to the history of boxer Edward Sanders.

Already at the age of 20, Sanders set several records. First, Ed became the first black heavyweight Olympic gold medalist in history. Secondly, at the 1952 Olympics, which took place in Helsinki, Sanders defeated all his rivals ahead of schedule. Who knows what other heights this ambitious boxer could have reached if not for his ninth pro fight. A few days before the fight, which took place on December 11, 1954, Sanders complained to the coach about headaches. But, overpowering himself, he nevertheless entered the ring. No matter what, the athlete held out in the ring for ten rounds, unsuccessfully trying to knock out Willie James. The 11th round for Sanders was the last in his life. Having taken several blows from an opponent, Ed unexpectedly went to canvas. The athlete was immediately taken to the hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. In the morning the boxer was gone. Doctors were able to establish that Sanders had a head injury before last exit into the ring, and in the 11th round there was a brain hemorrhage, provoked by blows.

Benny "Kid" Paret

Benny "The Kid" Paret is another athlete whose name has been made famous by the tragedy. It is with him that one of the loudest scandals in the history of boxing is connected, in which both the problems of refereeing and the norms of universal morality are involved. But first things first. Almost through the entire career of the Cuban Paret, there was a line of conflict with the American Emil Griffith. The first meeting of two athletes for Paret ended in a knockout. The athlete could not come to terms with this, and was constantly looking for an opportunity to take revenge.

Soon such an opportunity presented itself to him, and the second fight between Benny and Emil took place. This time it was Benny who won, although he won on points. For Griffith, this fight was remembered not only by the defeat, but also because the not too delicate Paret called the opponent a homosexual. Naturally, the mutual hatred between the boxers has increased significantly.

The athletes met for the third time on March 24, 1962 at the famous Madison Square Garden arena in New York. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the live was broadcast by one of the largest US television channels ABC, so the fight for the title of athletes absolute champion the world's welterweight division was followed by millions of Americans. Until the sixth round, the boxers were on an equal footing, until Paret almost knocked out Griffith. After the break, the almost losing athlete fell on Paret with renewed vigor. He hit the boxer 29 accurate strikes that knocked the opponent down. Paret was literally hanging on the ropes when the referee stopped the fight. But this did not save the life of the Cuban - he fell into a coma right in the ring. Death overtook him in the hospital ten days after the battle. All this time Paret was unconscious.

The tragic echo of this fight sounded for a long time: Ruby Goldstein, referee last fight Pareta, was accused of untimely stopping the fight and never entered the ring again. The scandal also unfolded around the live broadcast of the battle: the American society was not ready for such cruelty. Due to this live broadcast of boxing matches on US TV channels banned for ten years.

Kim Duk Koo

Another boxer who said goodbye to his life during the fight was Kim Duk Koo. This Korean lightweight came to the pro level in the late 1970s after numerous amateur victories. The boxer also managed to win several victories among professionals. But the duel with the American Ray Mancini became a landmark and concurrently the last one for him. November 13, 1982 athletes met in the ring. Their fight lasted a long time - in 13 rounds they exchanged blows (Mancini gave Kim 39 punches, but he survived). The 14th round turned out to be decisive, in which the Korean missed a blow to the head. And then another. Kim Duk Koo fell to the floor and fell into a coma a few seconds later. The athlete has not left it.

Motorsport

Ayrton Senna

Racing on high speeds are perhaps one of the most life-threatening sports. In order to cross the finish line, the athlete needs to drive a technically sound car and at the same time be able to control his own movements and emotions. Of course, luck plays a significant role in racing, on which a person’s life sometimes depends. And it's hard to disagree when it comes to death. famous racer Formula 1 by Ayrton Senna. At the time of his last race in 1994, he was 34 years old. During his career, Senna managed to become a three-time world champion.

1994 was not the most successful year for race car drivers. There were several accidents at the San Marino Grand Prix. Then Roland Ratzenberger died on the track. Shortly after that, another accident awaited the riders - Pedro Lami and Jyrki Jarvi Lehto collided on the track. Then, not only athletes suffered from the incident, but also spectators who were injured by fragments of cars. Who would have thought that Ayrton Senna would have problems on the track. On the day of the race, he sat behind the wheel as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, on a sharp turn, his car crashed into a concrete wall. When doctors ran up to the rider, he no longer reacted to their words and gestures. At the hospital, doctors diagnosed brain death, which meant that Senna would never come out of a coma. It is worth paying attention to the fact that throughout his career, the racer has repeatedly made requests to revise the safety standards in racing. And it was Senna's death that prompted the Formula 1 leadership to reconsider the nuances of safety. And although the official cause of the accident is still unknown, the most likely cause catastrophes It's called a steering problem.

Basketball

Reggie Lewis

Basketball is difficult to attribute to dangerous species sports, but history still has several stories related to the death of basketball players right on the court. One of the most notable is about Reggie Lewis. This basketball player, like many of his colleagues, began throwing the ball into the ring back in early childhood, he did not leave basketball at school either. Already at the university, Lewis joined professional sports, and at the age of 22 he began to play in the NBA. He became the 22nd number of the Boston Celtics. The basketball player showed good results: on average, he managed to score 17.6 points per game. And who knows how the career of this basketball player would have developed if it were not for the fateful training. It was July 27, 1993, when Lewis once again went out to train, when he suddenly fell in the middle of the site in front of other athletes. According to the doctors, the cause of death was cardiac arrest. Around the sudden death of a basketball player, there were many rumors. Detractors immediately accused Lewis of using cocaine and other drugs. But, no matter how the basketball player's competitors slandered, doctors did not find traces of the use of the above substances in his blood.

Cycling

Tom Simpson

Cyclists during training and competition are at no less risk than Formula 1 racers. But it was not the speed and the originality of the track that did not cause the death of Tom Simpson during his overcoming the next stage of the Tour de France in 1967. Until this time, the racer managed to collect a lot professional achievements. In 1965 he became world champion in the group road race, and also won Olympic bronze in command track race at 4000 meters. Simpson was also named the best athlete UK according to the BBC. By the way, he became the first racer in history to receive such an award. The last race in his life was the Tour de France mentioned above. The athlete has been preparing for it for many years, which he has repeatedly admitted to the press. However, the athlete did not succeed in accepting this challenge with dignity - he died on the slope of Mount Ventoux. The reason was amphetamines, which he took before the race, washed down with alcohol. Even the hardy body of a professional athlete could not withstand such a load.

Fabio Casartelli

By the way, Simpson is not the only racer in history who died during the Tour de France. Italian Fabio Casartelli tragically died on the 15th stage of the famous stage race. The incident occurred in 1995 during the descent from Mount Porte d'Aspe. The high-speed riders were unable to coordinate their movements as they entered a nearly 90-degree left turn. Most of them fell off their bikes and were injured. But it was Fabio Casartelli who suffered the most. He suffered serious head injuries and died at a local hospital. It is worth noting that at the time of the fall, Fabio was without protective helmet on the head. According to many experts, the presence of protection could reduce injuries and save the life of the athlete.

Marc-Vivienne Foe

The history of football knows no less deaths of athletes during the game than, say, boxing. And in this context, it is simply impossible not to mention the name of Marc-Vivien Foe, who said goodbye to life on the football field. The incident with this Cameroonian athlete occurred in 2003 during the semi-final of the Fed Cup. Right in the middle of the game, in the 72nd minute of the match, Foe suddenly fell to the grass, without showing signs of life after that. Doctors immediately ran up to him and began to resuscitate him. “For 45 minutes, doctors tried to bring Foe back to life after his heart stopped, but all their attempts were unsuccessful,” FIFA medical spokesman Alfred Müller commented on the incident. This case became a real scandal in the world of football. The need to hold a friendly tournament of national teams of countries in principle fell into doubt. After all, as you know, it was held in June - the period when the players are on vacation, preparing for the next season, which could cause irreversible harm to their health or even cost their lives, as in the case of Foe.

Antonio Puerta

The death of 22-year-old Spanish national team player Antonio Puerta also remained on the pages of world football history. On August 25, 2007, Puerta played with Sevilla against Real Madrid for the Copa del Rey. Unexpectedly for everyone, the football player retired to the locker room in the middle of the game due to poor health. Already off the field, his health deteriorated sharply. The footballer had a seizure. The doctors took the player to a hospital in Seville, where he died three days later, on August 28. The negative connotation of this story is added by the fact that at the time of Puerta's death, his wife was in a position. The athlete's child appeared two months later, he was named Aitor Antonio.

Sergey Perkhun

One of the most tragic deaths of a football player is the death of Sergei Perkhun, the goalkeeper of the Ukrainian national team and CSKA Moscow. On the day of his death, August 18, 2001, Sergei took to the field against the Anji team. The match was held in Makhachkala. During the game, Perkhun collided head-on with forward Budun Budunov. And if the latter escaped with a temporary loss of memory, then this incident cost Sergei his life. Immediately after the collision, Perkhun was conscious for some time. But after the match, he fell into a coma, from which he never came out. Doctors pronounced him dead on August 28 at 5:25 a.m., the cause of which was total cerebral edema and cerebral blood flow arrest.

Sport is life. And if morning work-out never hurt then professional sports often associated with serious injuries, both during training and during competition. In this regard, Reedus publishes a selection of the worst injuries that took place at the Winter Olympics.

Before and during the Olympic Games, when athletes work to the limit of human capabilities, give their all to achieve record results, the risk of injury is especially high. It is curious that the favorites of the competition are injured less often than the non-favorites. Some experts attribute this to the fact that it is difficult for the latter to pass the qualification required to participate in the competitions themselves, so they make superhuman efforts for this.

There is no official trend or statistic about the relationship between the number of injuries and the time they were received. Athletes are equally injured before the competition in the most intense training and in the performances themselves, when they overcome the limits of the possible. However, there are interesting statistics on injuries received at the Vancouver Olympics. According to the data, out of 2567 participants in the competition, more than 10% - 287 athletes were injured. One fourth of the injured athletes had to withdraw from further participation in the Games. Women suffered more injuries than men. The most traumatic sport was snowboarding.

The Winter Olympic Games in Sochi are not over yet, but many athletes have already received injuries of varying severity. Let's look at a selection of the most serious injuries from the Sochi Olympics, as well as injuries that will forever remain in Olympic history.

1. The greatest number of injuries to date at the Sochi Olympics were received by snowboarders. An unsuccessful fall and fracture of the collarbone ended the training of the contender for the medal, the Norwegian Thorstein Horgmo. Later in qualifying, snowboarder Heshti Buos, Finnish Merika Enne, American athlete Sean White, and Sharki Panchokhova, Czech snowboarder, received several injuries. No luck and 15-year-old American Maggie Woisin, who could become the youngest participant Winter Olympics among US athletes. While in training, the girl injured her ankle and refused to start. Also serious injuries from snowboarders were Yuki Tsubota from Canada, snowboard world champion Ariel Gold.

2. In 2010 at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver real tragedy ended the performance of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. When exiting the last corner at a speed of about 140 km / h, he flew out of the sled beyond the gutter and fatally hit an iron pole.

3. Russian freestyler Maria Komissarova ended with a serious injury. The athlete did not cope with the barrier and received a severe spinal injury on the ski-cross track. Doctors restored the destroyed part of the spine, and also implanted a metal implant. It is worth noting that this is not the first serious injury to the athlete.

4. Russian mogulist Sergey Volkov, who did not make it to the final of the Olympic tournament, received a slight concussion due to a fall in qualifying. American Heidi Kloser fell on the same track. Due to an injured knee, the athlete was unable to continue performing.

5. The 1964 Innsbruck Olympics ended with two deaths at once. A few weeks before the start of the Games, British luger Kazimierz Kai-Skrzipeski died in training. His sleigh flew out of the gutter. And a few days before, Australian skier Ross Milne fatally crashed into a tree while downhill.

6. A multi-level fracture of the foot did not prevent Polish skier Justyna Kovalchuk from taking gold at the Sochi Olympics. She won the 10 km race classic style while taking painkillers. It is worth noting that for the athlete this is the second Olympic gold. In Vancouver, she took first place in the 30-kilometer marathon.

7. At the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, Swiss skier Nicolas Bochatai died in training the day before the closing of the Games. He crashed into a snowplow.

8. Swedish skier Patrick Yarbin at the Olympics in Vancouver was seriously injured due to a fall during the descent at the giant slalom competition. Yarbin injured his back and face.

9. At the same time, Ukrainian ski jumper Vitaliy Shumbarets got into a powerful air current and lost coordination, which led to a terrifying fall.

10. This list cannot but include the tragedy that happened to the Russian athlete, bobsledder Irina Skvortsova in 2009. Then the referee gave the command to start the race for the men's pair of athletes with a red signal at the start. Bobsledders crashed into the female crew of Nadezhda Filina and Irina Skvortsova, who had not yet completed their descent. As a result, Skvortsova received severe injuries, but after 4 months of intensive treatment and more than 50 complex operations, she was able to recover.