It’s a tradition that we see in many sports: athletes who finish within the top three of a race, end up on the podium, where they open a bottle of champagne to shower themselves and the other podium finishers. Although it’s fun to watch, yesterday, it turned out it can be quite dangerous.
Eritrea’s Biniam Girmaye made history by becoming the first African cyclist to win a stage in the Giro d’Italia. Shortly after that, he made history again, but this time it wasn’t for something to be proud of: during the award ceremony, Girmaye popped the cork of a bottle of prosecco into his left eye. The cyclist temporarily lost his sight and had to go to the hospital. Although, doctors couldn’t find any damage, Girmaye’s team decided not to take any risk and to take the cyclist out of the Giro d’Italia.
“I’m very sorry that I have to miss the rest of the Giro”, Girmaye commented. “I need to stop, recover and rest for a few days.”
