The most terrifying incident at the Olympics. Polish athlete gets skate to the eye
The women's 1500m short track quarter-final at the Olympics on Friday ended in a nightmare — Poland's Kamila Seller fell in a pile-up and got a skate to the eye.
Screenshot from Daily Brief video
Caution — further on are very unpleasant images that may shock you
Seller fell on one of the turns, and the skate of a rival passing by hit her face. It looked extremely gruesome. Short track skaters generally wear protective goggles, but Kamila's goggles flew off during the collision, writes sports.ru.
Screenshot from HBO Max video
Kamila is 25 years old; she is a two-time medalist at the 2025 World Championships in relays. In Milan, Seller did not reach the awards, and now she is in the hospital.
Screenshot from Daily Brief video
After the collision, the competition was interrupted, and doctors gathered around Kamila. The athlete lost consciousness but quickly came to. She was placed on a stretcher, and as she left the arena, she was able to show the audience a thumbs-up — everything is fine, I'm okay. Meanwhile, workers were scraping blood from the ice.
Screenshot from Daily Brief video
American Kristen Santos-Griswold, who caused the pile-up, was disqualified. She burst into tears when she was told what had happened to Kamila.
Kamila received several stitches right at the arena.
Fortunately, the worst did not happen — the eye was not damaged.
"Kamila Seller has severe swelling of the eye; she cannot open it. The cut on her cheek has been stitched, and the zygomatic bone under the eye socket is damaged. Kamila is going to the hospital with the doctor; we are waiting for transport," Konrad Niedźwiedzki, press attaché of the Polish Olympic team, said yesterday.
Seller is currently in the hospital, and her health is not in danger.
For now, Kamila can only be inspired by the example of Dutchman Jens van 't Wout — in 2019, he went through the same thing. Vladislav Bykanov's skate from Israel hit his face — leaving a large scar and knocking out two teeth. Jens received 15 stitches then, but two days later he returned to the ice. And in Milan 2026, he became a three-time Olympic champion.