Tokyo 2020: Team GB’s Hector Pardoe worried he would ‘LOSE EYE’ after elbow to the face knocked him out of marathon swim
TEAM GB swimmer Hector Pardoe worried he would lose an EYE after an elbow to the face prematurely ended his Olympics.
The 20-year-old, who swims 90km per week in training, was knocked out of the men's marathon swim after a collision in the water.
The marathon swimmer was sitting in the top 15 with around 2km to go of the 10km swim.
But the 20-year-old suffered horrible luck as he caught a stray elbow and was cut, with pictures emerging of him holding an ice pack to his face.
Later images then showed him with a bandage over his right eye, with Pardoe admitting his worry to reporters.
He told the BBC: "It wasn't really what I expected from the start.
"I started really fast from the front, really warm conditions that I'm not used to, I've never raced in such hot waters.
"I started to panic when I was behind, I could see that any chance of top five, top six was over.
"I was trying to secure it as much as I could, didn't get the top 10 finish. I did well to catch the group up, I was feeling OK, I got back into it.
"On my last lap, I took an elbow to the face - I thought I'd lost my eye.
"My goggles came off completely. I always hoped that if I got injured like that, I'd be able to finish the race - but my goggles fell off and I couldn't even get them.
"I couldn't see anything, I thought my eye had fallen out in the water. I went up to the lifeguards and said: 'My eye, my eye! Is it OK?'
"They weren't giving me a very decisive opinion and I had to get out after that.
"It's fine, they're just going to stitch it up for me back at the Olympic Village. It was bleeding everywhere."
'IT'S BRUTAL'
He added: "Anyone who says open water swimming is not a contact sport - it is. You can only see what happens on the surface of the race, underneath there are so many kicks and scratches - it's brutal.
"I came onto the scene quite fast and I've progressed a lot in the last two years, I haven't experienced this temperature.
"I've only done two World Cups, which is remarkable for anybody. Everyone in this race, I'm sure, has had more experience than that.
"I'm going to get more experience under my belt, grind, come back for Paris and try to win it."
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German athlete Florian Wellbrock eventually won gold with a dominant performance.
He had won bronze in the 1,500m freestyle on Saturday but blew away the field in this event.
He was in control from start to finish, taking the top prize ahead of Hungary's Kristof Rasovsky, who won silver, and from Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri who took bronze.
Wrexham swimmer Pardoe made headlines before the Games after admitting he had been scared of open water as a child - and still didn't like swimming in the sea after being stung by jellyfish.
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He said last month: "I had quite a brutal experience with jellyfish in Malta in 2018 in the European Juniors.
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"I was at the front of the pack going through the jellyfish first, and I got some nasty stings up my arms for which I've still got the scars.
"If I was just swimming recreationally in the sea I'd still be scared of jellyfish, but when I'm in an open-water race now I've got so much adrenaline and stuff, I don't really think about it."