Olympics rocked by awful incident as Aussie wins praise for stunning act towards lame horse

There were confronting scenes at the Paris Olympics on Sunday when French mountain biker Loana Lecomte lost consciousness after a scary fall, while Australia had a medal chance ruined in the equestrian when one of the horses suffered an injury. Lecomte entered the race as one of the favourites for gold, and was sitting in the bronze medal position when disaster struck.

The French competitor was thrown over the handlebars of her bike after coming unstuck on the rocky downhill terrain, and was laying motionless for a number of seconds. The TV coverage cut away from the scene out of respect for Lecomte, who was left with some nasty cuts and scrapes on her face.

"That was a brutal crash for Loana Lecomte," commentator Scott McGrory said on Channel 9. "Over the handlebars, down the rock cascade. She was very slow to move. Hopefully she is going to be OK."

Fellow commentator Sophie Smith, who was at the event, reported that Lecomte had been taken to hospital but was conscious. "From what I understand, Leona has been taken off the course, we don't understand the full extent of her injuries," Smith said.

It later came to light that Lecomte had escaped serious injury, but was sporting some nasty wounds on her face. "She was one of the big favourites coming in," Smith said. "There were a lot of French spectators here to see her and Pauline (Ferrand Prevot, who won gold) today.

"The hopes were that they were going to go one-two on the podium. The French fans... every time they were coming through on those earlier laps, you could hear how the decibels went up."

French president Emmanuel Macron was among the many to send their well-wishes to Lecomte after the nasty accident. A spokesperson for Team France said the 24-year-old suffered concussion and “facial trauma” although it would “not be serious in the end”. French outlet L’Équipe added that she had a “relatively minor jaw injury”, and was later seen bandaged up and smiling alongside one of her coaches.

Aussie equestrian praised for brilliant act for lame horse

There was also disaster for Australia in the cross country equestrian event when Kevin McNab decided to retire his horse Don Quidam after he sensed his Olympic silver-winning mount from Tokyo three years ago may be lame. McNab's decision to pull Don Quidam out of the event ended up being correct when the team vet discovered the horse had suffered a soft tissue injury.

A fully recovery is expected, but it meant heartbreak for the Aussie team. "The horse was going really well and he just landed a little awkwardly in the last water and I felt it when he came out," said McNab. "In the best interest of the horse, I decided to pull up."

It meant the end of the Australian trio's bid to win another medal in their traditionally strong event. But McNab won widespread praise after his first concern was for the animal's welfare.

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Chris Burton, the last of the three Aussies to jump, admitted mixed feelings after he delivered a superb, faultless round on Shadow Man to move into outright third place in the individual standings. The 42-year-old has his strongest discipline - the showjumping - to come on Monday.

"It's a gut-wrenching sport, isn't it?" Burton said. "We turned up here with three really good riders on three very good horses. And when our pathfinder (Shane Rose on Virgil) went out and went so well, you can't help but get a little bit excited. I sit here sort of feeling happy, but with mixed emotions, because I'm so devastated for our colleague Kev and his beautiful horse - and hopefully the horse is okay."

with agencies