Former Formula 1 (F1) racer, Alex Zanardi, suffered a severe accident that caused him to lose his sense of sight. The accident incident involving Zanardi occurred while participating in Obiettivo tricolore race in Tuscany, Italy, Friday (6/19/2020).
Zanardi, who had both legs amputated in a racing accident almost 20 years ago, lost control of his bike and crossed into the path of an oncoming truck.
The man who had stepped on 53 years had experienced a coma after the accident that happened to him. Based on provisional forensic results, Zanardi received a hard impact on the head that caused damage to brain tissue.
Even the Italian paralympic was threatened with loss of vision due to damage to brain tissue he received. Knowing this, Zanardi was immediately flown to a hospital in Siena and had an operation that lasted for three hours.
Until this news is made, Zanardi must get help breathing at the Alle Scotte Santa Maria hospital. The head of the hospital emergency room, Dr. Sabino Scolletta, said Zanardi was already in a stable condition.
“The overall clinical picture is good, although neurologically, it is still serious,” Sabino said. “This might affect his eyesight and we need to consult with an eye specialist first,” he added.
Meanwhile, neurosurgeon Giuseppe Oliviere, who carried out the operation on Zanardi, acknowledged that the Italian Paralympic champion was experiencing a serious condition. “The condition is stable, but has very serious nerve damage and is still uncertain,” Olivieri said.
Alex Zanardi was the eighth of Formula 1 in the 90s. However, his racing career was not good because he never won the podium. His best result was a sixth-place finish in the 1993 Brazilian GP. Zanardi has also been a Grand Prix racer and won the CART Championship twice in the United States.
But he suffered bad luck after both his legs were amputated due to an accident at the Lausitzring track in Germany in 2001. In 2007 he achieved 4th place in the New York City Marathon in the handcycle division, after only four weeks of training. He has since taken up handcycling in earnest, and competed at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in 2009. He was then recorded to compete in the hand bike event at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games by winning 4 gold medals.
