Britain's Kye Whyte taken off BMX track on stretcher after Olympic silver medalist crashes in semis

MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France (AP) — Kye Whyte of Britain was tended to by several paramedics before he was taken off the BMX track on a stretcher following a hard crash during the semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Friday night.

The reigning Olympic silver medalist, Whyte had just come down the steep starting ramp and into the 410-meter-long course near National Velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines when he went down. He would have been going at about 56 kph (35 mph) at that point in the track, and landed hard on his side before coming to rest on the dirt.

Medical staff was tending to him even before Sylvain Andre of France led the field across the finish line.

Such high-speed crashes are common in BMX racing, where riders are in tight quarters on a course that includes bumps, ramps and highly banked turns. One day earlier, Carlos Alberto Ramirez was taken away on a stretcher after a crash in the last-chance qualifying race, though he showed up at the track on Friday night to watch the semifinals and finals.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games