Kye Whyte has crashed out of the BMX Racing semi-final run two and has been stretched off the course by medics.
Whyte made Olympic history in 2021 by securing Team GB’s first-ever medal in the sport and was looking to further his collection at this summer’s tournament.
However, Whyte had been struggling with a back injury which he said was aggravated last night after the three quarter-final runs – according to The BBC.
The 24-year-old lost control of his bike after the first jump and swerved off the course into before crashing out.
Paramedics attended to Whyte while he was on the floor and could be seen placing an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
Shortly after he was lifted onto a stretcher and carried from the course but appeared to be awake and speaking to the surrounding staff.
Whyte did not take part in the third heat as a result of his crash and will not advance to the final of the competition in Paris.
Team GB released a statement on Whyte’s condition shortly after the crash took place and said he would receive further assessment in hospital.
It read: ‘Following his crash in tonight’s BMX racing semi-final, Kye Whyte was assessed immediately by the on-site medical team.
‘This was followed up by further immediate review by Great Britain Cycling Team doctor Nigel Jones.
‘Initial reports are positive but he is being taken to hospital for further assessment.
‘We wish Kye a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him on his bike very soon.’
In an interview with Mail Sport earlier this year, Whyte was reeling off the list of bones he has broken from racing his BMX bike.
‘Two shoulders, two collarbones, a couple of fingers, my hand twice, my wrist twice, my elbow and toes,’ said the Olympic silver medallist. ‘Oh, and my jaw as well.’
That last injury he mentioned was the most serious of them all, following a horror crash in his first race on the British talent squad at the age of 13.
‘I probably could have died,’ admitted Whyte, sitting with Mail Sport in the kit room by the BMX track at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.
‘Someone crashed in front of me and I tried to move out of the way in mid-air and I crashed and knocked myself out. I was racing in Crewe and when I woke up I was in Liverpool and my mum and dad were there, so I knew it must have been serious.
‘I was in an induced coma for about five days. I had a bleed on the brain. Half the left side of my face was gone away. I missed a whole year of school. It took me about a year and a half before I started to ride again.’
Given everything he had described, it felt important to ask the question: why put yourself through it? ‘I ask myself the same thing every morning,’ laughs the 24-year-old. ‘I’m not a dangerous person — I just like to ride a bike very fast.’
He has been doing so since the age of three, when he first joined his older brothers Daniel and Tre — who went on to become a world bronze medallist himself — on the track at Brockwell Park near Brixton, south London. The sport helped keep Whyte on the straight and narrow.
‘It was kind of a normal childhood life… except the massive gangs around,’ he says about growing up on a council estate in Peckham. ‘But I was never troubled by the gangs because I was kind of known as the BMX kid, always getting asked to do wheelies. In my friendship group, a lot of us made it past that to go on and succeed.’
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