Olympic Games star reveals the bizarre way he broke his NECK just months before taking on Leon Marchand in Paris

Zac Stubblety-Cook has revealed the secret injury he kept under wraps heading into the Olympic Games in Paris.

Australia’s breaststroke sensation Stubblety-Cook arrived in Paris nine months on from a sickening injury that left his swimming campaign in serious doubt.

The 25-year-old was lifting weights in the gym when he felt a pain in his neck.

Not thinking anything of it, he continued with his workout but later discovered he had suffered a fracture.

He spent at least a month on the sidelines but opted to keep his injury quiet, seemingly unwilling to want to draw attention to himself.

But it makes his silver medal in the 200m event even more remarkable, considering he also struggled with Covid-19 during his time in Paris.

The Aussie lose out to French superstar Leon Marchand, but can have no regrets about his performances. 

‘It caused me to have a bit of time out of the water, but I trained for three weeks with it and then had three weeks off, which sucked,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald. 

‘I was in a good space and it just felt like I broke the momentum. It was a freak accident.’ 

Stubblety-Cook reflected on what it was like facing Marchand, who galvanised the French crowd with his awesome performances.

‘You could hear the crowd under water,’ Stubblety-Cook said. ‘It was so loud. It’ll go down as one of the highlights of my career. If I’m gonna be beaten by someone, a Frenchman in front of a home crowd … isn’t that like the best combo?

‘It sucks, not winning, but watching that and seeing that is incredible for him and the sport. Two golds in one night is crazy.’

Stubblety-Cook aimed a dig at Chinese rival Qin Haiyang, who was one of the 23 swimmers who tested positive to a banned substance prior to the Tokyo Games.

Qin broke Stubblety-Cook’s world record last year but failed to reach the final in Paris. 

The Aussie has chosen to remain quiet on the matter but shared his thoughts in Paris.

The Australian star managed to recover in time for Paris to win a silver medal

‘The system has failed, simple as that,’ Stubblety-Cook said. ‘I do sympathise, I guess, with the individual because it’s not necessarily an individual’s faults. It’s the system. 

‘We can isolate China and Russia, they’ve repeatedly broken the rules. But it’s less about what nation they come from, and more about the system.

‘You have 23 athletes … if that was Australia under sport integrity, like we saw what happened with Shayna [Jack], they would be provisionally suspended.

‘That was the sad thing, right? We were talking about it three days before the games. Athletes have felt frustrated because it feels the system has failed.

‘We all thought potentially something would come of the independent review. World Aquatics knew about it and it’s hard. Is it a commercial decision?

‘I definitely have gotten more frustrated by that. I probably used it a little bit [for motivation].’