Heartbreaking Images From The Worst Injury Of The 2012 Olympics

South Korean weightlifter Sa Jae-Hyouk was in the middle of the medal hunt when disaster struck.

In Olympic weightlifting there are two types of lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch is where the lifter takes the bar from the ground to above his or her head. The clean and jerk is where the lifter lifts the bar to his or her chest and then pushes it up above his or her head. Each lifter gets three attempts at each and the highest weight totals from both lifts are added together to create a final score.

On his first attempt at the snatch, defending Olympic gold medalist Sa Jae-Hyouk (South Korea) had lifted 158 kg (348.33 lbs), but on his second attempt he tried to push it to 162 kg (357.15 lbs). Disaster struck.

Video available at: http://buzzfeed-video1.s3.amazonaws.com/video/2012/08/01/ouch-620x350.mp4.

Had Jae-Hyouk stayed healthy and just replicated the lifts he had done in Beijing he would have been on pace for AT LEAST a bronze medal.

Image by GRIGORY DUKOR / Reuters

Image by GRIGORY DUKOR / Reuters

Image by Rob Carr / Getty Images

Image by ADREES LATIF / Reuters

Image by Rob Carr / Getty Images

Image by GRIGORY DUKOR / Reuters

Image by YURI CORTEZ / Getty Images

Image by Jeff Gross / Getty Images

Image by YURI CORTEZ / Getty Images

Update: The nature of the injury has been released and luckily it was just a dislocated elbow, albeit a gruesomely earned one.