An Olympics worker has gone viral for a moment they’ll ‘never live down’ while treating an injured athlete at the 2024 Paris Games.
On Saturday (27 July), Brazilian fencer Nathalie Moellhausen faced off against Canada’s Ruien Xiao in the Women’s Individual Épée at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
During the match, Moellhausen fainted, prompting assistants to rush to her aid. In the chaos, one medic misinterpreted a signal, leading to an awkward moment that was captured on camera.
As soon as Moellhausen collapsed, an Olympics organizer and a medic hurried to her side, with one of them grabbing a chair to assist her in sitting down.
However, whether due to a misunderstanding of the situation or a hasty reaction, one of the medics saw the chair and immediately sat on it themselves.
The medic was quickly informed that the chair was not intended for them, prompting them to stand back up.
Though the incident lasted only a few seconds, it was caught on camera and shared online, quickly gaining attention on social media.
Account @PicturesFoIder, which posted the clip to Twitter, wrote: “This is going to haunt him forever.”
“He was like ‘ah, thanks for the chair. This job is hard’,” another user added.
A third commented: “He’ll be in the shower 35 years from now and it will pop in his head and make him cringe.”
“I’m gonna say he was trying to make sure it was sturdy by sitting on it,” another person wrote.
And another user concluded: “When in big stress, I’ll do similar stupid things. I feel for him.”
Moellhausen later returned to the match but unfortunately lost, revealing the extent of her pain in a television interview.
She said, as quoted by MSN: “I felt that my body couldn’t move, and I was only entitled to a 5-minute break. Finishing the bout seemed impossible – she admitted.”
The fencer explained she was diagnosed with a benign tumor on her coccyx earlier in February this year and chose not to have it removed since it was benign. However, she was unaware it could cause her such significant pain.
On Monday (29 July), reports indicated that Moellhausen underwent surgery to remove the tumor and is now on her recovery journey, which is expected to take about a month.