Tamara Potocka collapses after the 200 medley heats, off on a stretcher and with an oxygen mask

Out of breath from an asthma attack, she collapsed on the edge of the pool after 200 medley batteries this morning at the Paris Olympics. Tamara Potocka21, a Slovakian from Bratislava, a debutant at the Games, collapsed at the edge of the pool just after getting out. She remained lying on the ground on her back, wearing a blue swimsuit, while she was immediately helped by a dozen paramedics and then carried away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face. The athlete remained conscious. The cause of her illness was asthma, as the Slovakian team announced in a statement: “Tamara suffers from asthma. This combination of nervous and physical tension, while she did not have an inhaler immediately available for use, contributed to creating this problem,” explained the leader of the national team, Ivana Lange. “She received the necessary oxygen and medicine, her condition is constantly monitored and she will have to be monitored for several more hours.”

Only entered in the 200 medley

Potocka was eliminated and will not swim tonight’s semifinals: she finished seventh in her heat and ultimately finished 23rd overall, 4.3 seconds slower than the fastest, Canadian Summer McIntosh. Potocka has no other events scheduled in Paris. She started swimming at age 7, her idol is the Hungarian Katinka Hosszunicknamed the Stakhanovite of swimming or The Iron Lady for the amount of races she swam. And of course she is an admirer of Michael Phelps. She made her international debut at the Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou, China, in 2018. She trains in Bratislava at the J&T Sportteam club, and is coached by Tomas Tresl.

The two heats following Potocka’s, who swam in the third round, were slightly delayed to allow her to be assisted. Initially, without knowing the cause of her colleague’s illness, the Israeli Lea Polonsky who swam two heats later, said swimmers know their sport has inherent risks: “Of course it’s something you think about, but every day we push ourselves to the limit. You always know something like this can happen. It’s not something you think about during the race, but the possibility is always there.”