Iranian Para-cyclist dies after crash

an iranian paracyclist has died after a crash during the men c 4-5 road race at the rio paralympics the international paralympic committee said bamangal barnes 48 suffered cardiac arrest after the incident on a mountainous stretch of circuit the ambulance then diverted to the nearby unimed rio hospital in barrow where he passed away soon after arrival a statement added gol barnes also competed at the london paralympics in 2012 an investigation into the circumstances of the accident has been launched we're looking to gather as much information as we can and as quickly as possible it should take a matter of days said piers jones sports director of cycling's governing body uci the iranian flag has been lowered to half-mast in the paralympic village and a period of silence will be observed during sunday's closing ceremony masood ashwav the secretary general of iran's national paralympic committee said it had requested the body of gol barnes be flown to iran on sunday the committee also asked for a full report of the incident from the ipc ashraf added he had been cycling for 12 years and he was our best cyclist he was married and has a wife and one son he was the kind of man who was a family man he loved his family gol barnes death is the first in competition at a summer olympics or paralympics since danish cyclist nude anna mark jensen in the 100 kilometers team time trial at the 1960 rome olympics what details are known about the accident saturday's race began at pontal and included the groomery circuit used in the rio olympics road races the vista chinese circuit which included a treacherous descent where anemia van vilotin of the netherlands crashed and sustained concussion during the olympics was not part of the paralympic course according to the ipc golbarnezid was involved in a crash at around 10 35 local time on the first section of the groomer loop a mountainous stretch of the course on a curved descent the bbc's south america correspondent wire davies said reporters were told gol barnes suffered catastrophic head injuries after falling from his bike at speed on a steep tight part of the course he received treatment at the scene and was in the process of being taken to the athlete hospital when he suffered cardiac arrest ipc president sir philip craven said this is truly heartbreaking news and the thoughts and condolences of the whole paralympic movement are with bauman's family friends and team-mates as well as the whole of the national paralympic committee of iran the paralympic family is united in grief at this horrendous tragedy which casts a shadow over what have been great paralympic games here in rio the race was gull barnes's second at the rio paralympics after he finished 14th in the c4 time trial race on wednesday gulbar nezid from the city of shiraz in southern iran also participated in the london 2012 paralympics he lost his left leg in a landmine explosion and took up the sport in 2002 competing in events for athletes with lower limb impairments or amputations tributes paid to exemplary sportsman iranian paralympic committee he was an exemplary paralympic sportsman who with love and energy tried his best to promote the name of iran and to make all of us proud and at the end he gave his life for this all members of the iranian cultural and sports camp here express condolences to his family and the iranian nation the name of bamangal barnezad will be inscribed in the proud history of iranian paralympics carlos nuzman president of rio 2016 this is very sad news for sport and for the paralympic movement our hearts and prayers are with bauman's family his team-mates and all the people of iran brian cookson president of the uci cycling's governing body i am devastated to hear about the death of iranian writer bahman gol barnes our thoughts are with his family and friends and the npc of iran to whom we offer our most sincere condolences paralympics gb we are devastated by the news of galbar nezid's passing our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues from npc iran united states olympic team our thoughts are with the friends family and teammates of team iran's inspirational cyclist bauman galbar nezid i was sat opposite him in the pits this morning dame sarah story britain's most decorated female paralympian also paid tribute to gol barnes in an interview with bbc sport i'm absolutely devastated to hear of a colleague who hasn't made it home from the games said story who had earlier won britain's 60th gold medal in rio everyone expects to come home from a games and it's no real condolence that he died doing something he loved it's just an horrendous thing it couldn't be any worse there are no words that can make it feel better when you lose someone you don't even know but they are in the same world i was sat opposite him in the pits this morning i know who he is but i've never spoken to him it still hits you really really hard