A wrong twist, a fall that can change everything. Lorenzo Bonicelli, 23 years old, gymnast of the Italian national team, is in a pharmacological coma at the University Hospital of Essen, Germany, after a serious neck injury instantly during an exercise in the rings.
The accident took place on Wednesday,during the Summer Universiade.The dynamic has not yet been fully clarified. What is known is that Lorenzo Bonicelli, originally from Abbadia Lariana, lost his balance during exercise and violently impacted his neck.
Immediate transport to the hospital followed; the young man was conscious, but his condition immediately appeared serious. The examinations highlighted different fractures to the cervical vertebrae. He was subjected to delicate surgery, which, according to internal sources, would have been technically managed. Though,doctors keep the prognosis reserved and keep him sedated.
“It will take at least ten days to know the evolution of the clinical picture. We all pray and cheer for his full recovery,” said Steve Butcher, former technical director of the International Gymnastics Federation.
The accident deeply shook the entire Italian delegation. The teammates Riccardo Villa and niccolò Vannucchi decided to retire from the competition. “We want to express our closeness to Lorenzo’s family and personally, hoping that everything will be resolved for the best,” the national team’s coach Paolo Bucci wrote on social media.
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