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E-mailThere comes a time when a professional athlete's injury is way more than what the average Juan experiences during a pick-up game with the boys. Let’s go through ten of the most cringe-inducing injuries caught on video that could have you thinking twice about being a hotshot pro athlete. These videos are by no means ranked; you could more or less argue that all of these are equally horrific.
Warning: The videos embedded in this article are of extremely graphic nature. Viewer discretion is advised. Videos after the jump.
John Theismann (American Football)
For most American Football fans who were tuned in on November 18, 1985, the hit that John Theismann took from the New York Giants' Lawrence Taylor is one of the most unforgettable moments in sports history. Theismann was one of the NFL's most popular players at the time, and he was just a season removed from winning the 1983 Most Valuable Player plum. He had been in the league for a little over a decade prior to the incident, and while he was already 36 years old, it was clear that he still had a lot in the tank.
Unfortunately, destiny had other plans for Theismann. A horrifying sequence of events sent Taylor crashing into Theismann's right calf. The collision resulted in a comminuted compound fracture in his tibia. Theismann's shin bone snapped into pieces, with parts of it managing to break the skin. The injury never healed properly. His leg ended up shorter than the other, even after years of treatment. While Theismann had to retire from the sport he loved, he still ended up being around it. He now hosts a highly-syndicated show on the NFL Network.
Shaun Livingston (Basketball)
Shaun Livingston was one of the most highly-touted prospects when he entered the NBA. He was sought after for his immense skill and physical gifts; he stands 6’7”, making him potentially taller than just about every other point guard since Magic Johnson. Many scouts and analysts did have reservations about his reputation for being quite injury-prone, but the Los Angeles Clippers still took a chance with him. The team picked him fourth overall in the draft, behind Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor, and Ben Gordon.
Livingston failed to live up to the hype surrounding him, and things took a turn for the worse during the tail-end of his third season in the league. In February 26, 2007, Livingston went strong to the basket following a steal and ended up landing awkwardly after an off-balanced layup attempt. The Clippers’ then-starting point guard suffered a massive injury that tore almost all the ligaments in his left knee, as well as dislocated his knee cap. His knee joint was literally on a right angle to where it needed to be after the nasty spill.
He is currently attempting a comeback with the Washington Wizards.
Sid Vicious (Pro Wrestling)
Most people would probably think that pro wrestling is just a carefully-choreographed stunt show cum soap opera, but the injury that Sid Vicious (real name Sid Eudy) sustained was anything but fake. During the 2001 Sin pay-per-view event for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Eudy landed horribly on the canvas after attempting a high-flying maneuver from the top turnbuckle. His lower leg bones both snapped and one of them ended up breaking his skin. His leg was mangled to the point that it looked similar to a twig run over by a speeding truck.
Eudy would try to return to the ring in 2007, but things just didn't pan out as hoped.
Salim Sdiri (Long Jump)
Long jump isn’t one of the first things that come to mind as far as gruesome injuries are concerned, but Salim Sdiri from the French National Team would beg to differ. While waiting for his turn to jump during a 2007 regional meet, a wayward javelin thrown by Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki ended up impaling Sdiri’s flank. Thankfully, no internal organs or major muscle groups were damaged in the incident. Sdiri was somewhat fortunate to have been discharged just a few days after his terrifying ordeal.
David Busst (Football)
When you have twenty-two players trying to kick a ball around a field, it’s almost inevitable that some shins and feet hit each other. Unfortunately for Coventry’s David Busst, he failed to get the breaks of the game two minutes into a 1996 match against Manchester United.
In an excruciating collision with Dennis Irwin, Busst broke the two bones of his lower right leg in multiple places. The Conventry defender had to endure 26 operations and multiple bouts with nasty infections. He even suffered an infection involving methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that nearly made doctors consider amputating his leg. Busst ended up retiring later into that season and is now a director for Coventry City’s Football In The Community.
Unidentified Kickboxer (Kickboxing)
Kickboxing is an absolutely brutal sport. If you’ve ever hit your shins with the corner of your coffee table, you would know that it is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. In kickboxing, fighters actually use their shins and feet to hit the opponent as hard as possible. Sometimes, like in this video, it doesn't work out so well.
As both fighters do low kicks on the same side, the fighter on the right hand side suddenly gets the shock of his life as his right lower leg seems to turn into rubber. He tries to stand up, but his leg just buckles underneath him and he falls down as the referee calls for a stoppage to the fight. The kickboxer appeared to snap both the tibia and fibula, and should be on the long road towards rehabilitation.
Napoleon McCallum (American Football)
The NFL is filled with stories of careers that end in an instant because of injury. Along with the Theismann's, Napoleon McCallum’s injury is one of the mishaps that just make those who know about it shudder and cringe. During opening night in 1994, McCallum’s Los Angeles Raiders faced the San Francisco 49ers. In the match's third period, McCallum was tackled so hard that he blew out three of the four ligaments in his knee, had some blood vessels severed, and even had his calf and hamstring muscles just pulled from the bone. He never returned to the NFL.
Jessica Dube (Figure Skating)
Figure skating is another sport that doesn't usually come to mind when speaking of gruesome injuries, but Canadian figure skater Jessica Dube's is one for the history books. While competing in 2007 at the free skate segment of the pairs competition at the Four Continents Figure Skating Competition, tragedy struck. Dube and her partner Bryce Davison were doing the camel spin – a move that requires skaters to extend one leg, keeping it and rest of the torso and head parallel to the ice as they spin around – and the two drifted towards each other. Davison’s metal skates hit Dube on her nose and cheek, causing her to bleed profusely on the ice. Fortunately for Dube, her partner’s skates missed her eyes by centimetres and her facial bones were not fractured. However, she still had to contend with a surgery that required over 83 stitches to put her face back together.
To prove that she’s a tough trooper, Dube and Davison were back on the ice just a month later. The two also finished as the sixth best pair at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Greg Todd (Cricket)
Just like figure skating, Cricket is one of the sports that doesn’t sound that threatening – until you watch the video, that is. Unlike the other lower-leg-snapping-into-a-dozen-pieces injuries in this article, Greg Todd managed to somehow break his tibia and fibula without anyone hitting him. This bizarre pitching incident sidelined the New Zealand cricketer for the remainder of the 2004-2005 season. He did make a triumphant return to the sport, however, and is still one of the best players in the game as of the present.
Mary Pierce (Tennis)
With all the running, speed changes, and bursts of acceleration in tennis, the knee ligaments undergo immense stress. The injury that Mary Pierce suffered during her match against Vera Zvonareva in October 2006 wasn’t that gruesome visually, but what was particularly disturbing was the loud shrieks of pain that the French tennis player let out following the snapping of her anterior cruciate ligament.
Pierce did try to come back on several occasions but she almost always retired from the tournament citing injuries.
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