They 2016 Rio Olympics have been a time for guts and a time for glory, a time when some newbies are heading home with gold medals while other, older athletes are looking for one more shot at glory. It's also been a time for injuries, as the past few days have made abundantly clear. In fact, during the Olympic weightlifting competition, contender Andranik Karapetyan, who is Armenian, totally snapped his elbow during an event. You can see the horrifying moment, below.
Andranik Karapetyan was trying to complete a 195kg lift (so more than 429 pounds) when his elbow totally snapped. Onscreen, you could hear the announcer state, "Oh, his elbow is gone," but that's a tame way of putting what happened. One second, Karapetyan had the lift under control and then the next second, he'd dangerously dropped the weight and was holding his arm, clearly in agony. The 20-year-old competitor is currently the reigning European champion, but it looks as if he might be out of commission for a while. He had to be helped away from the competition area.
If you'd like to witness what that was like in HD with sound, SB Nation has you covered. But I have to say, it's gnarly. It was gnarly on TV and it's even more horrifying with a second watch. I'm even grossed out by the tamer gif. It's one of the most graphic moments I've ever witnessed at the Olympics, and this isn't my first rodeo.
After the injury, Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov ended up taking the gold medal. China and Egypt's competitors won medals for second and third, respectively.
We've seen a lot of injuries so far in Rio. Some of these have been minor. For instance, Switzerland's Isabelle Forrer looked like she was suffering from whiplash after making a quick dive during a match against USA's Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross. She continued to compete afterward. Great Britain's Ellie Downie later fell on her neck during the floor exercises, later proclaiming she "crunched her neck," which is just gruesome sounding. (A slew of other gymnasts have had falls, typically off the balance beam, but that's neither here nor there.) A French gymnast also broke his leg.
Obviously, we aren't rooting for the best of the best to injure themselves during one of the most important days of their lives, but seeing these moments happen on live TV does add some shock value that only big sports competitions can bring. If you'd like to check out more of CinemaBlend's 2016 Olympics coverage, head here. In addition, you can catch more coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics on NBC through Sunday, August 21, when the closing ceremony airs. Live streams can also be viewed on NBC's site.
