Cuba’s Hanser Garcia, who is a huge darkhorse at the Olympics in the 100 free, has injured himself while training in Serbia.
Garcia, who was recently sent to Peru for better training conditions, is in Europe for a training camp and intends to participate in a few European competitions prior to the Olympics. On Tuesday, according to the Brazilian site globo.com, he dropped a bar on his head while lifting weights.
He scored a silver medal at last year’s Pan Ams Championship behind only Cesar Cielo of Brazil with a mark of 48.34, which ranked him 12th in the world.
The ensuing gash in his head, which runs from his hairline a few inches towards the crown of his head, required four big staples. It’s not clear if the injury will keep him out of the water for any time.
Pictures of the injury are here (a little gross, so beware if you are queasy).