Paris 2024: Team GB medic duo help save life of Uzbek boxing coach Tulkin Kilichev
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Published 10/08/2024 at 19:16 GMT+1
Britain's Robbie Lillis and Harj Singh were unexpectedly called to action when Uzbekistani boxing coach Tulkin Kilichev collapsed while celebrating his fighter's gold medal. Hasanboy Dusmatov had reclaimed his Olympic title by beating France's Billal Bennama by unanimous decision in Thursday's final.
Watch 'happiest of endings' as Khelif dances in celebration after sealing boxing gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
Two Team GB medics helped to save the life of boxing head coach Tulkin Kilichev after the Uzbek suffered a cardiac arrest celebrating his fighter’s gold medal.
Hasanboy Dusmatov sealed his second Olympic title by beating home favourite Billal Bennama via unanimous decision in the men’s 51kg final.
But Great Britain’s doctor Harj Singh and physio Robbie Lillis were called into action when Kilichev collapsed following the bout on Thursday night.
The British pair performed CPR and employed a defibrillator to aid the 41-year-old, who is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Lillis recalled the moment he knew something was wrong to PA news agency: “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.
“There was a cry for a doctor, for help. Harj [Singh] was the first person who responded and I followed with the emergency trauma bag that we carry with us.
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Tulkin Kilichev with Bobo-Usmon Baturov (Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
“When I arrived about 30 seconds after Harj, he had already started performing CPR on the coach. Quite a lot of coaches were pretty visibly distressed around the whole situation, so it took us a moment to clear all of them out of the way.
“I opened up the trauma bag, got the defib out, got the pads on him as quickly as possibly. Once that analysed his heart rhythm, it said a shock was advised so we cleared everybody away and gave him a shock.
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“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.”
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Video credit: TNT Sports
The former Exeter Chiefs physio was grateful to make use of his regular UK Sport Institute training to avert a tragedy.
"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,” said Lillis.
“It was obviously a bit of a rush of adrenaline at that time kind of managing the situation. I’m obviously grateful to be able to play a part in hopefully helping someone survive.
"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."
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
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