Salim Sdiri

On Friday 13 July 2007, during the IAAF Golden League at Rome's Olimpico Stadium, Sdiri was hit in the scapula by a stray javelin thrown by the Finnish athlete Tero Pitkämäki. The javelin thrower slipped and threw the javelin towards the area where the jumpers were warming up.[1]

Sdiri was rushed to a local hospital in Rome with non life-threatening injuries. The doctors believed, at the time, that the javelin had missed any vital organs by 4 centimetres. However, two days later, Sdiri was rushed back to the ER as the prognosis was incorrect. The javelin had actually torn a hole in his liver and torn and punctured the right kidney slightly. Sdiri responded to the many interviewers by saying:

The javelin touched the right kidney and there is a slight tear at the top of the kidney....the liver was also touched leaving a hole in it. The javelin penetrated over ten centimetres and not four as we initially thought.[2]

After months of rehabilitation and questioning, he decided to prepare himself to return to competition for the Beijing Olympics in early 2008. However, he did not qualify.[3]

On 12 June 2009, Sdiri beat the former French record holder for long jump, Kader Klouchi (8.30 m in 1998) with an 8.43 m jump. Sdiri was selected to compete in the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009. He finished 6th, with an 8.07 m jump.

On 27 February 2012, in Paris-Bercy, Sdiri became the French champion in the indoor long jump by setting the best performance of the year worldwide with a jump of 8.24 m, just missing his French record by 3 centimetres. On 12 March 2012, he qualified for the finals in the long jump at the World Indoor Championships with a 7.94 m jump. He came second with an 8.01 m jump versus the 8.17 m jump of Fabrice Lapierre.