Olympic star's dreams dashed after accidentally 'defecating' mid-race

Yohann Diniz's Olympic dreams were dashed in a rather unfortunate manner during the 2016 Games in Rio when he reportedly had an accident on the track. The 46-year-old was competing in the 50km race walk across Brazil eight years ago, but his participation was abruptly ended by an alleged poorly-timed bowel movement.

Despite being tipped to clinch a first-place podium finish before the event, the athlete collapsed 15km into the scheduled 50km, citing stomach pain. Just moments before the Frenchman hit the ground, it is reported that he was seen wiping away a brown substance - believed to be feces - from the back of his legs.

Displaying true Olympic spirit, Diniz managed to pick himself up and cross the finish line in eighth place with a total time of 3:46:43. The gold medal in the event ultimately went to Slovakia's Matej Toth with a time of 03:40:58, while Australia's Jared Tallent bagged silver and Japan's Hirooki Arai secured bronze. This wasn't the first time Diniz experienced a hiccup during an Olympic event.

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The athlete made his Olympic debut at the Beijing Games of 2008 but ended up with a DNF, withdrawing from the 50km race walk around 30km in due to pains in his stomach and thigh, reports the Mirror . Four years on, at the London 2012 Olympics, Diniz was disqualified right after crossing the finish line for grabbing a water bottle outside the designated refreshment zone around the 38km mark. This meant his eighth-place finish was invalidated.

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Despite missing out on Olympic success so far, Diniz has been remarkably successful in other major events. The French athlete has clinched gold at three European Championships (Gothenburg 2006, Barcelona 2010 and Zurich 2014) in the 50km walk, as well as gold and silver in the same event at the World Championships.

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He also holds the world record for the quickest 50km walk with a time of 3:32:33, set at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich. The 50km walk has been removed from this year's Paris Olympics, with officials choosing to hold shorter 20km competitions for men and women - along with a 35km mixed team race walk.

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