By Sam Nussey and Rozanna Latiff
TOKYO (Reuters) – France’s Bassa Mawem has pulled out of the final of the men’s climbing competition at the Tokyo Games after injuring his left arm during the qualifiers on Tuesday, the French Olympic Committee said.
The 36-year-old will be repatriated back to France for surgery, a committee spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The withdrawal is a blow to the Frenchman’s dreams https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/climbing-mawem-brothers-shoot-moon-tokyo-2021-07-29 of competing for climbing’s first Olympic medals alongside his younger brother Mickael, who emerged top among the eight athletes advancing to Thursday’s final.
The committee said Bassa, the oldest climber at the Games, had felt a sharp pain in his left arm which caused him to fall off the wall in the lead event of the qualifiers – the third and final contest in the combined competition.
“After additional examinations at the competition site… the medical diagnosis is now known: Bassa Mawem suffers, according to this diagnosis, a total rupture of the lower biceps tendon,” the spokesperson said.
Germany’s Alexander Megos, who finished ninth in the qualifiers, will not be replacing Bassa in the final.
Bassa will place eighth and be marked as a DNS (did not start), a spokesperson from the International Federation of Sport Climbing said.
The Frenchman had been in prime position after recording the fastest time in the opening speed race, hitting a personal best sprint of 5.45 seconds, just missing the world record of 5.20.
But he was unable to solve any of the bouldering problems in the second event, and placed last in the lead after his fall, finishing qualifying in seventh overall.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
