Milad Karimi who broke his arm in three places after a fall at Melbourne World Cup said to the media that he had to wait for an ambulance for more than an hour while suffering from immense pain.
Karimi told to Bnews.kz that he spent a lot of time preparing for the Melbourne Cup, upgrading his routines and studying the routines of his competitors. However, he got injured on the second qualification day:
“I competed on all three apparatuses, I started on bars and was last to compete on it. I don’t know how it happened. I didn’t even understand anything at that moment. It seems that I missed the bar with my hand and my arm twisted and when I hit the bar with my neck, I fell on the arm again. That’s why it broke in three places with the bone splintering”.
After the fall, Karimi was carried to the warm-up hall where he had to wait for an ambulance for over an hour:
“I was given a painkiller pain, the ambulance took a very long time to arrive. I was suffering a lot because when [people] raised my arm by the elbow or by the armpit, it was very painful. Then the ambulance came. I was taken to a hospital”.
Karimi’s surgery cost $15,000 which was covered by his travel insurance. The doctors didn’t let him go home with the rest of his team because of the swelling after the surgery and had to stay in Australia until this week:
“My arm got very swollen after the surgery. I had to stay in Melbourne with my coach. One Uzbeki coach who works in Australia offered to stay at his place until I get better. I will be staying until the 3rd of March”.
UPDATE: Australian Gymnastics Federation responded on Twitter saying that the ambulance did not take over an hour to arrive. They did not specify how long it was or what was the reason for not having an ambulance on standby like it’s often done at large sports events.
The ambulance definitely did not take over an hour to arrive. Unfortunately as the event organisers we cannot control ambulance dispatch times regardless
— Gymnastics Australia (@GymAustralia) March 8, 2018
Gymcastic also reported that a wait of at least 30 minutes was confirmed by those present at the arena.
A wait of at least 30 minutes was confirmed by those present. https://t.co/IISsPjr3mn
— GymCastic (@GymCastic) March 8, 2018
In addition, Emily Chan who attended the event said that Karimi was not immobilized right after the fall even though he hit his neck on the bar and potentially could have had a spinal injury.
So this is Milad’s arm and he wasnt carried off in a stretcher?? And he wasnt in a splint ..! That couldve been dangerous!! If the bone poked through the skin 😨😨 pic.twitter.com/7sOgH7jwtu
— EMILY 🌐 (@flipflytumble) February 24, 2018
These reports sound worrisome and can potentially indicate a problem with the emergency medical help during the event.
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?? Isn’t it a FIG rule to have an ambulance waiting at the competition site?