Pavel Šimko (born February 13, 1982, in

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

) is a

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

from

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. Šimko was the nation's first triathlete to compete at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. During the swimming leg, Šimko was kicked by one of the competitors on top of his head causing him to lose his consciousness in the water, and was rescued by boat crew. Suffered from an endured pain, Šimko sought medical attention, and did not thereby finish the swimming leg and even the entire course.

References

External links

ITU Profile
1982 births Living people Slovak male triathletes Olympic triathletes for Slovakia Triathletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Poprad 21st-century Slovak sportsmen {{triathlon-bio-stub