Olympic gymnast suffers horrific face injury half way through stunt
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages/Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images
A heroic athlete helped win her country's first Olympic medal in women's gymnastics - despite suffering a nasty facial injury and competing with a black eye.
Brazilian gymnast Flávia Saraiva, 24 played a pivotal role in helping her country secure bronze in the competition.
Her team beat Team GB, joining gold winners USA and silver winners Italy on the coveted Olympics podium.
It wasn't an easy defeat, with Saraiva sustaining a bloody eye injury in the process.
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When practicing on the uneven bars, Saraiva suffered a fall which led to blood pouring from her eyebrow and swelling beneath her eye.
After crashing into the mat, coaches and medics arrived to treat her injuries.
Saraiva then shared that she felt disorientated and was struggling to see out of her right eye.
It emerged that the blow had come from her very own knee.
Despite her painful injury, Saraiva competed for her country and led them to a medal.
Following the final, the gymnast stated: "It’s not the first time it happened to me. We are warriors.
"I could not see, it bled, but the team’s doctor told me everything was all right. I believe my knee hit my eye when I tripped."
She continued: "I realised I was on the floor, lying down with my knee in my face.
"I just rolled over so Rebeca [Andrade] could warm up. I said: "Guys, where am I?" Then [someone] said: 'It’s bleeding, it’s bleeding'.
"I put my hand on my face and my eye was bleeding, I didn’t understand anything. Then he asked if I was warm. Then I said: 'Now I’m awake'."
The bronze medal that Saraiva helped secure by performing an impressive vault move is Brazil's first in women's gymnastics.
Social media has been set alight with people praising the gymnast's tenacity.
One person wrote: "The dedication and commitment to the sport she loves is so unmatched! Kudos to her! Not letting anything stop her for winning that medal."
A second added: "HUGE shout-out to Flávia Saraiva of Brazilian Women's Gymnastics team. She took a NASTY spill during warmups on the uneven bars and is still out here putting up an amazing routine in competition. She's a different kinda star."
And a third chimed: "Flavia Saraiva was my personal favorite on floor this year. Despite kneeing herself during a bar warmup earlier, she crushed it. She was FAST, had incredible energy that got the crowd going, and her execution was phenomenal."