STUTTGART, GERMANY – OCTOBER 13: Judges watch a gymnast competing in Men’s Horizontal Bar Final during day 10 of the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle on October 13, 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
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Heartbreak has struck the Indonesian Gymnastics community as the country prepares to host its first world championships.
Men’s gymnast Naufal Takdir Al Bari was attending national team training in Penza, Russia, when disaster struck. Al Bari, a 19-year-old and Olympic hopeful, was attempting a skill on the men’s horizontal bar when he incurred a “severe neck injury” and “fell awkwardly into a foam-filled pit.”
The Indonesian Gymnastics Federation reports that Al Bari succumbed to his injuries on Thursday, September 25, after 12 days of intensive care at G.A. Zakharyin Hospital.
Russian media first reported the tragedy, with Vasily Titov, Vice President of the Russian Gymnastics Federation, attesting to the accident’s circumstances. “We sent our condolences to the Indonesian Gymnastics Federation today, informed them of what happened, and have done everything that needed to be done,” Titov said.
After “necessary investigation,” the federation determined Al Bari was “not prepared to perform such a complex element,” Titov added. It has not yet been disclosed which element Al Bari was attempting when the incident occurred.
Recent Major Injuries In Gymnastics
Al Bari’s tragic passing comes just months after another severe gymnastics injury made headlines. In late July, Italian gymnast Lorenzo Bonicelli went into a medically induced coma after a fall at a competition.
While Bonicelli is reportedly on the mend and has been discharged from the hospital, these accidents underscore the inherent dangers of artistic gymnastics.
Though injuries remain a palpable risk in both men’s and women’s gymnastics, severe injuries causing paralysis or death are rare. In 1988, American elite gymnast Julissa Gomez was paralyzed in an accident on vault and passed away in 1991 due to complications from her injuries.
Soviet star gymnast Elena Mukhina suffered a similar fate. Known for training the now-banned Thomas salto, Mukhina broke her neck two weeks before the 1980 Olympics, leaving her permanently quadriplegic. She died in 2006 at the age of 46.
In 2019, a collegiate gymnast at Southern Connecticut State University died after sustaining a spinal injury during a routine training exercise on the uneven bars. Two years later, Cameroonian gymnast Séverine Émeraude Djala Abaka passed away in an accident on the same apparatus.
Ultimately, though severe injuries are rare, they are deeply unsettling and tragic.
Indonesian Gymnastics Reacts
For Indonesian gymnastics, Al Bari’s loss is especially devastating. With the country hosting the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships this October, Al Bari was slated to compete in his first world championships on home soil.
Having just begun his freshman school year at State University Surabaya, Al Bari also had his sights set on the Southeast Asian Games later this year and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“Naufal was a talented gymnast, and his passing is a blow to the world of sports, especially Indonesian gymnastics,” the federation shared in a social media post.
“Indonesian Gymnastics has lost one of the nation’s finest. This is a deep blow and sorrow for us. May his family be given strength, and may Naufal find the best place by Allah. Glory and exalted is He.”