The French Wilfried Happio is the personification of overcoming. 20 minutes before proclaiming himself the national champion of the 400 meters hurdles last Saturday, he was assaulted by an unknown spectator, who left him with 50% vision and one eye bandaged.
Everything happened while doing the warm-up exercises prior to the test, in an annex circuit in the city of Caen. Even so, he managed a time of 48:57 and the fifth best mark in the history of his country.
“There was a big incident during the warm-up. Someone jumped on him and hit him,” Olivier Valleys, Happio’s coach and head of the French Athletics Federation (FFA) in the 400m, 4x400m relay and 400m relay, told the media. fences. “A guy appeared out of nowhere, asked if it was really him and went to beat him up,” he added.
According to Valleys, the assailant has been “arrested and Wilfried is fine.” However, it was difficult for him to assimilate everything that had happened: “There were 20 minutes left before the race, we were ready. And suddenly the attack occurred, which has left us in shock. All this seems scandalous to us.”
After the aggression, the athlete had discomfort in his left eye and he bandaged it with the forehead tape with which he runs, as if it were a patch. Thus, with his vision reduced to only one eye, he achieved victory, and the minimum for the World Cup in Eugene.
Although Happio was still in a state of shock at what had happened, he insisted on talking about the race: “With an eye everything is more complicated. The sensations were good and I am happy to achieve the minimum, since I have fulfilled the objective of the season”.
Afterwards, the athlete was transferred to the hospital for further tests. In addition, the FFA announced that they were going to file a complaint against the aggressor.
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