It is not only Team GB’s athletes who are getting their “Olympic moment” at the Paris Games.
Team GB boxing doctor Harj Singh and physio Robbie Lillis have emerged as heroes after helping to save the life of the head coach of the Uzbekistan boxing team.
Tulkin Kilichev was celebrating Uzbek boxer Hasanboy Dusmatov’s gold medal win over France’s Billal Bennama in the warm-up area of the Roland Garros on Thursday evening when he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Fortunately for the coach, Dr Singh and Mr Lillis were able to dash to his aid and perform CPR and administer a shock using a defibrillator, respectively.
“The [Uzbek] coaching team came back into the warm-up area and they were all celebrating, and then shouting came from that area that wasn’t celebrations at all,” Mr Lillis said.
“There was a cry for a doctor, for help. Harj was the first person who responded and I followed with the emergency trauma bag that we carry with us.”
Dusmatov (right) beat Billal Bennama of France to take the Olympic title. Pic: Reuters
The physio said a lot of coaches were “pretty visibly distressed” by the ordeal but it did not stop him putting the pads of the defibrillator on Kilichev and administering an advised shock.
“Initially he didn’t come back but, about 20 to 30 seconds later, after Harj continued doing CPR, all of a sudden he came back conscious with us, which was great,” Mr Lillis said.
The boxing coach was then taken to hospital by the venue’s medical staff, where it is understood he is in a stable condition.
Hasanboy Dusmatov. Pic: Reuters
The secretary general of Uzbekistan’s boxing federation Shohid Tillaboev later posted on Instagram to say the gold medal win was the “happiest moment” but celebrations were not the same with the coach missing.
Mr Tillaboev wrote: “He’s the best mentor! He is a true hero!”
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Dr Singh said he and Mr Lillis will hopefully visit Kilichev while he recovers, adding that the entire ordeal really “puts things into perspective”.
“Everything happened so quickly,” he said. “At some stage we will endeavour to go to the hospital. If it could be arranged, I think that would be quite emotional for both of us.”
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Team GB medical staff all do regular training at the UK Sports Institute, including a pitch-side trauma course to prepare for extreme circumstances.
Mr Lillis admitted the adrenaline from the experience meant he could not sleep that night, but he is grateful to have played a part in helping someone stay alive.
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“It’s definitely not my day-to-day job, and I wouldn’t like to make a routine of doing it, but thankfully having had the training I was able to carry that out,” he said.
“My mum said a really nice thing, she said: ‘That’s your Olympic moment’. It’s something obviously I’ll definitely remember, I don’t think I’m going to be forgetting that any time soon.”