RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (KTHV) - Armenian weightlifter, Andranik Karapetyan, suffered a terrible arm injury trying to clean and jerk 429 lbs. (195kg).
20-year-old Karapetyan was in second place in the 77kg weight class when he went for the clean and jerk. He put the weight onto his chest and shoulders with relative ease, but it was when he went for the final push that it all went wrong.
His elbow gave out, popping out of its socket. He quickly dropped the weight bar and cradled his arm.
The medical team was quick to respond and help the young Armenian off the mat.
PHOTOS: Armenian weightlifter suffers devastating arm injury
Dislocating your elbow is a common weightlifting injury but it's still painful to watch and even more painful to experience. In the 2008 and 2012 Olympic games, Sa Jae-hyouk of South Korea and Hungarian Janos Baranyai were struck by the terrible injury.
Karapetyan had won a gold medal at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships and was billed as a favorite to win gold at the Rio Olympics.
Karapetyan was unable to finish because of the unfortunate injury. Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov broke the world record for clean and jerk to capture gold in the event.
The Rio Olympics have been rife with devastating injuries. French gymnast Samir Ait Said suffered a broken leg and Dutchwoman Annemiek van Vleuten was in a horrific crash, fracturing vertebrae and suffering a concussion.
