At the end of the European Athletics Championships in Istanbul, a fall by the Spanish hurdler Enrique Llopis caused concern. The 22-year-old fell over 60 meters hurdles in the final and then lay motionless on the floor.
When the doctors treated him, they tried to protect the Spaniard from being looked at with large cloths. After treatment, Llopis was taken from the hall to a hospital on a stretcher. He had made a misstep on the take-off, fell over the last hurdle and then hit his head hard on the track.
There were initially no official details about his state of health. Spanish media reported a few hours after the fall that Llopis was conscious again and being treated.
Llopis then called himself from the hospital late in the evening and gave the all-clear. Apparently he got away with it. In a video that was circulated on Twitter, he said, among other things: “All tests went well, now I have to recover from the shock.”
This should also have made things easier for the winner of the run, whose gold medal was initially a minor matter. The Swiss Jason Joseph had won in 7.41 seconds.