Photographer speared by javelin

Xavi6

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=565813

Photographer speared in leg by javelin

08:39 AEST Tue May 20 2008

A newspaper photographer got a little too close to the action at the Utah state high school track championships - and was speared through the leg by a javelin.

Ryan McGeeney of the Standard-Examiner was spared serious injury in the weekend mishap and even managed to snap a photo of his speared leg while others worked to help him.

"If I didn't, it would probably be my editor's first question when I got back," McGeeney said later.

The 33-year-old McGeeney, an ex-marine who spent six months in Afghanistan, was taking pictures of the discus event and apparently wandered into an off-limits area set aside for the javelin throw.

Striking just below the knee, the javelin tip went through the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg.

"It wasn't real painful. ... I was very lucky in that it didn't hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons," McGeeney said.

Much of the javelin was cut off at the scene. The piece in McGeeney's leg was removed at a hospital, and he received 13 stitches.

The javelin was thrown by Anthony Miles, a Provo High School student who said when he saw what had happened, "my heart just stopped".

"One of the first things that came to my mind was, 'Good thing we brought a second javelin,'" Miles' coach, Richard Vance, said. He said Miles was "in a little bit of shock", but he assured the athlete that it was not his fault.

With a subsequent throw, Miles went on to win the state title in javelin for teams in Provo High's size classification, 4-A.

Not the first and probably won't be the last but disgusting all the same. Can't believe he took the pic himself!

Victor

I thought those provos preferred using baseball bats on legs.

I'm surprised the injury was that slight - a centimetre to one side and he could have had a broken leg.

token56

Wow, I also heard about a girl who had her leg broken by a wayword throw of the hammer onto the track

thirtyfoot

http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/01/decathlon-champion-sebrle-nearly-escapes-death-by-javelin/

Didn't seem to affect this guy as he went on to win in Osaka only 7 months later.

http://osaka2007.iaaf.org/results/gender=M/discipline=DEC/combCode=hash/roundCode=10/summary.html

“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 … 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. Just 1cm higher and it would have hit bone, muscle and tendon and that would have been the end of my sporting career.”

Pherekydes

Hardcore taking the pic himself. But it doesn't look that bad. Good job he was a marine!

A friend of mine was struck on the ass by a javelin and it didn't even pierce the skin. Right on the glute. Maybe the muscle being contracted at the time saved him a more serious injury.

mike65

At the World Athletic Championships back in the early 90s some chap with a tape measure got speared.

Mike.

thirtyfoot

The french long jumper Sdiri got a bad one in Rome last year too when Pitkamaki hit him and as far as I know he hasn't made a comeback.

Pherekydes

Tingle wrote: »

The french long jumper Sdiri got a bad one in Rome last year too when Pitkamaki hit him and as far as I know he hasn't made a comeback.

He jumped indoors in February, and ranked 19th with 7.98m. Physically, he's nearly as good as ever. Psychologically, it may be a different story. Would he be able to jump full out if there was a Javelin competition going on at the same time?

RoyMcC

And these incidents are all at good class and (presumably) safety-conscious meets.

It's a holy wonder more accidents of this nature don't occur at lower levels where safety seems to be a side issue. And track runners in particular seem oblivious to the fact that the infield is there for the purpose of throwing potentially lethal implements.

I'm genuinely surprised that there is no use of a warning horn, or similar, in Ireland for the long throws. Am I being over-fussy?

thirtyfoot

RoyMcC wrote: »

I'm genuinely surprised that there is no use of a warning horn, or similar, in Ireland for the long throws. Am I being over-fussy?

No, makes perfect sense and very simple.