Porchier Recovering from Car Accident

French lightweight men’s coxless four Sydney Olympic champion Laurent Porchier has come out of hospital after being involved in a car crash last Monday.

Porchier was thought to have been severely injured when another driver hit his vehicle on the Valence to Romans highway in France. The 2001 world bronze medallist was admitted to hospital with a head injury and several wounds to his face.

According to a French sports newspaper, however, the 34-year-old rower was released on Wednesday morning with no serious damage. A representative from the French Rowing Federation said that he is suffering from a dislocated cervical vertebra.

Contacted today coach Bruno Boucher said: “It is always a shock when something like this happens, Laurent is a very close friend. We have known each other for many years.

“Although I am reassured by the conversation that I had with him this morning” he told Worldrowing.com.

Questioned on the consequences that this accident might have on the future of the rower’s career, Boucher said that it is still too soon to determine what will happen. “I would prefer though, that any decision on his career was his own, rather than a consequence of such an incident.”

Porchier, who is still in pain, will be seeing specialists later this week to determine the exact impact of the accident. He is however hoping to go back to training this week-end.