Roman Sebrle celebrating his Decathlon title defence in Gothenburg (© Getty Images)
Olympic and European Decathlon champion and World record holder Roman Sebrle (CZE) has confirmed that he only narrowly escaped death when he was accidentally speared by a javelin during his annual training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
In a training accident on Saturday 20 January a javelin plunged into Sebrle’s shoulder in a training accident.
“If the javelin had hit me 10cm to the left, it would have punctured my lung, 20cm higher the throat, which would have been the worst case scenario,” said Sebrle, 32. “Just 1cm higher and it would have hit bone, muscle and tendon and that would have been the end of my sporting career.
“I was diagonally crossing the field, totally focused on my own training. I had completely forgotten that the javelin throwers were training at the other end. Suddenly there were screams. Before I could react, I was hit. I looked at my shoulder and saw a javelin stuck in it. I was in shock.”
According to Sebrle, his wound was 12cm deep but did not penetrate the muscle. He needed 11 stitches.
The injury is not as serious as first thought but Sebrle, the reigning European Indoor Heptathlon champion, will however miss the Tallinn meeting at the beginning of February, confirmed his manager Alfonz Juck.
AFP and EAA
