Friday 10 July 2015 19:50, UK
After the heroics of Fabian Cancellara, who finished a stage of the Tour de France with a broken back, we take a look at some other sporting stars who have played through unthinkable pain.
A broken collarbone or fractured eye socket might send any normal person straight to the nearest hospital, but some sportspeople have not even left the field after sustaining such injuries.
Read on to find out who went well above and beyond the call of duty after suffering what would usually be a debilitating injury...
Danny Williams (dislocated shoulder)
Oct 21,2000
We know boxing is brutal but when Williams suffered a dislocated shoulder during a fight, it was the ultimate test of endurance. To box on was one thing, but to win one-armed was another. On October 21 2001, the Brixton heavyweight was defending his Commonwealth title and looking for the British belt against another Londoner Mark Potter.
He got off to what we considered the worst possible start when he was floored in the first and although he returned the compliment in the second, towards the end of the third Williams emerged from a clinch with his right shoulder clearly out. He went back to the corner where plenty of people, including promoter Frank Warren, rightly called for the fight to be over. Williams didn't listen though and Danny Tovey simply popped it back in.
The right arm was lame for at least two more rounds and he was forced to box on the back foot, behind his left jab, waiting for the other arm to come back to life. It was literally hanging and the tears of pain can't have helped Williams' fading chances. Yet it got even worse at the end of the sixth when the shoulder popped out again. Trainer Jim McDonnell was ready to throw the towel in and surely it had to be the end? In the next round it was... for Potter.
A perfect left-uppercut put him down again and although he made it up at nine, referee Johny Coyle waved his arms and called the fight off. That was something Williams, hunched in excruciating pain, couldn't have done. But then again, no one thought a boxer could box with one hand, never mind win two titles. Williams said after the fight: "I would never quit. I heard what Frank and Jimmy said but there was just no way that I was going to let anybody pull me out."
Steve Nash (displaced cartilage)
May 23, 2010
Adjustments are expected in the NBA Playoffs, especially when you’ve lost the opening two games of a Conference Finals. The on-court adjustment the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash showed however required a little more grit.
A collision with LA Lakers’ Derek Fisher, with 19 seconds remains, displaced the cartilage in Nash’s nose.
Despite suspecting a broken nose, Nash’s breathing was not impacted nor was there any blood. The two-time MVP adjusted his nose and pinched the cartilage back in to place himself before sinking a pair of free throws on route to 118-109 win.
“I bent the cartilage in there,” Nash explained in his post-game press conference. “I straightened out there on the court. I don’t think it’s broken. I think it’s just bruised.”
Seánie McMahon (broken collarbone)
Jun 4, 1995
Having lost the 1994 Munster Senior Hurling Championship final against neighbours Limerick, the pressure was on Clare heading into the 1995 Championship, which began with a provincial semi-final against Cork.
Trailing at half time, the Banner were dealt a blow when Seánie McMahon suffered a broken collarbone with 20 minutes remaining. To make matters worse, Clare had already used all of their substitutions.
“I remember the doctor and Ger (Loughnane, Clare manager) was there and the doc said to him that the collarbone was gone,” said McMahon. “We had used all our subs so Ger hadn’t exactly a very happy look on his face.
“I said, ‘Look I’ll go up there’ (to the forwards) because at least I’d occupy one of the Cork corner-backs. Other than that I wasn’t planning on getting too involved, I just said I’d stand in the corner and force one of them to mark me. An extra man at that stage would probably have been the difference.”
Clare trailed by two points with time almost up but McMahon, playing with one hand, managed to win a sideline ball. It was swung into the area and Ollie Baker knocked the ball to the net to snatch a dramatic victory.
McMahon was cleared to play in the Munster final four weeks later as Clare beat Limerick to clinch their first Munster title since 1932, and he scored three points against Offaly in the All-Ireland final as they lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup for only the second time in their history.
Wayne Shelford (ripped scrotum)
Nov 15, 1986
New Zealand No.8 Wayne ‘Buck’ Shelford wrote his name into rugby history during the All Blacks clash with France in 1986.
The ‘Battle of Nantes’ was a brutal affair with injuries all over the park but nothing as eye-watering and wince-inducing as Shelford’s injury.
A vicious punch to the mouth knocked out four of his teeth but that was nothing for the hard man from Rotorua, who laughed it off and continued to lead from the front with bone jarring tackles.
It was after one of these tackles that Shelford found himself at the bottom of a ruck where some savage rucking from the French forwards ripped open his scrotum.
There was no histrionics; no rolling around. No, there was a game to play and Shelford got on with it. Eventually he walked to the sideline and without any anaesthesia waited patiently on the side of the pitch as the doctor stitched him up and returned to action.
France went on to win 16-3 and Shelford was eventually subbed – for concussion after another nasty blow to his head had him wandering all over the pitch.
“I was knocked out cold, lost a few teeth and had a few stitches down below,” recalls Shelford, who went on to father two children.
“It's a game I still can't remember – I have no memory of it whatsoever.”
An honourable mention goes to Wasps back-rower Joe Worsley, who also had his scrotum ripped open against Harlequins but returned the following week to face Stade Francais, thanks to a good stitch job and a cricket box.
Geraint Thomas (broken pelvis)
Jul 2013
The Tour de France is one of sport’s most demanding challenges when fully fit, but finishing the three-week race with a broken pelvis is almost unthinkable. Yet that is exactly what Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas did at the 2013 Tour after a crashing at the end of the opening stage.
The Welshman would have been forgiven for quitting, but team-mate Chris Froome was bidding to win the race overall and Thomas remained determined to play the supporting role he had prepared all year for.
He spent much of the first week of the race lingering at the back of the peloton, recovering and doing only what was necessary to finish the each stage, but as the race wore on, the pain from his injury dimmed and he soon moved up the pack and back to Froome’s side.
By the key mountain stages, Thomas was playing a crucial role and when Froome sealed victory in Paris three weeks after stage one’s crash, his loyal and dogged domestique was right next to him as he crossed the finishing line.
Sam Burgess (fractured eye socket)
Oct 5, 2014
Sam Burgess was determined to go out with a bang in his last game of rugby league. Already a legend of the 13-man game, Burgess had decided to switch codes and would be heading to rugby union side Bath after the NRL Grand Final.
If any league fans doubted his commitment in the final game it was soon dismissed as he fractured his eye socket in the first 10 seconds of the game. Canterbury kicked off and Burgess ran it back – straight into James Graham, where a clash of heads left Burgess clutching at his cheek.
A quick word with the physio and a couple of wipes from the magic sponge and Burgess was raring to go. Not only did he lead the Rabbitohs to their first ever NRL title since 1971 but also became the first non-Australian to win the Clive Churchill medal – given to the man of the match in the Grand Final.
“The cheek is pretty sore, the adrenaline has certainly worn off,” said Burgess after the game.
“It is worth it for the feeling we got at the end of the game. This year certainly meant a lot to me being my last at the club. It is a feeling that will be very hard to replicate. I’m just thankful to be a part of it and given the opportunity at the club.”
Burgess joins an impressive list of league players who have shrugged off injuries in the NRL Grand Final: John Sattler helped South win the 1970 NRL Grand Final after playing 77 minutes with a broken jaw, while Sydney Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall also played on with a broken jaw in their win over Manly in 2013.
Malcolm Marshall (broken hand)
Jul 14, 1984
When you talk about bravery in relation to legendary Barbados quick Malcolm Marshall, it is normally to do with facing him. But on an afternoon in Leeds in 1984 it was Marshall, with bat in one hand, who showed true courage and selflessness.
The great West Indian team were on their way to another 5-0 whitewash but during England’s first innings Marshall had gone down to stop a Chris Broad shot and in doing so broke his thumb in two places.
Thanks to an 82-run eighth-wicket partnership between Michael Holding and Larry Gomes, West Indies had just taken an 18-run first innings lead, moving past England’s 270. Gomes was closing in on a hundred but when on 96 not out, Big Bird Joel Garner came back for a clumsy second and Big Bad Bob Willis ran him out. Gomes turned to return to the pavilion, knowing Marshall had been advised not to play again for at least 10 days.
Marshall had other ideas though. His left wrist in plaster, he appeared from the Headingley dressing rooms. With a spring in his step and a smile on his face he first swung and missed at Paul Allott before guiding him, one-handed, through gully for four. He was soon caught, attempting the same stroke, by Ian Botham at slip off Allott but not before he had seen Gomes to his century and the Windies to a 32-run lead.
Wrist in a pink plaster, he returned to the field for England’s second innings and did what he did best: he took 7-53 as England were blown away and the series won.
Marshall said: “With Larry close to his hundred I thought I would give it a go.”
Bert Trautmann (broken neck)
May 5, 1956
Manchester City legend Bert Trautmann wrote his name into FA Cup folklore with a truly astonishing display of bravery and resilience during the 1956 final at Wembley.
Leading 3-1 with just over a quarter of an hour remaining in the National Stadium, Trautmann dived at the feet of Birmingham striker Peter Murphy to keep City’s two-goal lead intact, and broke his neck in the process.
The innocuous collision flattened both players and Trautmann was clearly in discomfort as he clutched his neck after getting to his feet but, after receiving some rudimentary medical treatment, the unperturbed German refused to shirk his responsibilities and continued.
Moments from the end he was on hand again to thwart Murphy in another bone-crunching coming together, yet he refused to let the pain get the better of him, displaying the grittiness which saw him survive a three-year spell as a paratrooper during World War II and subsequent stint in a Russian prisoner of war camp.
City held on for their third FA Cup triumph by and large thanks to the heroics of Trautmann who, courtesy of an X-ray five days after the final, discovered he had dislocated five vertebrae, the second of which was cracked in two places.
Couple this display of sheer determination with the 545 appearances he made during a 15-year spell at City, and his place among the club’s greats was well and truly secured. That being said, though, surely there’s a less painful ways of endearing yourself to a set of supporters?
Tiger Woods (double stress fracture of left tibia, damage to anterior cruciate ligament)
June 2008
To win a major championship takes immense skill, patience and mental, as well as physical, fitness. To win a US Open on a tough and punishing layout such as Torrey Pines pushes the limits of endurance a little further. And yet Tiger Woods managed to win with what was effectively a broken leg – and it took him 91 holes to do so!
Woods arrived at one of his most successful venues having not played a competitive round since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery shortly after finishing runner-up to Trevor Immelman at the Masters in April.
Despite being in obvious agony, and amid claims from some players that he was over-exaggerating the extent of the problem, Woods opened with a one-over 72 and thrilled the crowds with a remarkable front-nine 30 that capped a 68, lifting him to within a shot of halfway leader Stuart Appleby.
Woods ignored calls to withdraw and battled on, and he eased the pain with a pair of cracking eagle putts and a superb chip-in for birdie from the thick rough at the 17th, and a 70 gave him the 54-hole lead for the 14th time in a major championship.
His injury looked to be getting the better of him during a torrid final round, and he came to the final hole three over for the day and needing a birdie at the last to force a play-off with veteran journeyman Rocco Mediate.
But after being forced to lay-up and then striking a wedge to 12 feet, Woods confirmed his status as the best clutch putter in the world as his slippery downhill effort for birdie caught just enough of the hole to head south and extend the tournament to a fifth day.
Wood came back the next day for the 18-hole play-off to add to the agony, but came out on top for an incredible win.
Two days later, Woods revealed the full extent of the damage to his left leg – a double stress fracture of his left tibia and damage to his anterior cruciate ligament, and further surgery sidelined him for the remainder of the year.
