Broken leg rules ex-world champ Tamgho out of Rio Olympics

AFP , Saturday 25 Jun 2016

Teddy Tamgho
France's Teddy Tamgho is treated by a medic after being injured during the French Athletics Elite championships on June 25, 2016 in Angers (AFP)

Former world triple jump champion Teddy Tamgho was ruled out of the Olympics on Saturday after breaking his leg at the French national trials, the country's athletics federation said.

The 27-year-old suffered the injury to his upper left leg in Angers where the French championships, which double up as the Olympic qualifiers, are taking place.

It will take up to six months for the injury to heal, meaning he has no chance of making the Games which run from August 5-21.

"Again, it was a jump which could have gone to 18m+. But God is great, it's not over," tweeted the Frenchman who had to be stretchered off the track and into an ambulance.

Tamgho, who hit the sand heavily and screamed with pain, holding his knee, has been plagued by injury throughout his career.

In 2011, he fractured his ankle, broke his left leg for a first time in 2013 and then suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in Doha in May 2015.

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