Russian swimmer Alexander Popov, winner of two gold medals in the Atlanta Olympics, underwent emergency surgery Sunday after being stabbed in the abdomen during an argument with Moscow street peddlers.
Popov, who outraced American Gary Hall to win the Olympic 50- and 100-meter freestyle events last month, was seen on Russian television Sunday evening, smiling in his hospital bed and assuring viewers he would soon be back in the pool."There's no need to worry," Popov, 24, insisted. "We're going to be walking soon - and swimming."
But the head of the Russian swimming federation, Gennady Aleshin, said earlier that the stabbing had affected Popov's lungs and kidneys.
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was reportedly outraged by the assault, ordering doctors at Hospital No. 31 to provide Popov with the best care possible.
Russian hospitals are notoriously lax about maintaining sterile conditions for patients, who frequently develop serious infections that can turn out to be more life-threatening than the original reason for hospitalization.
For example, desperately short of even the most basic equipment, Russian hospitals routinely re-use the same hypodermic needles on numerous patients.
One doctor at Hospital No. 31 assured a Russian TV reporter that every effort would be made to spare Popov from such problems during his convalescence.
"One hopes that developments after the operation will be normal," the doctor said. "We have every reason to believe so."
Popov, who in recent years has been training in Australia, returned to Moscow after the Atlanta Games, where he became the first swimmer ever to repeat as champion in the two sprint events.
Popov, very personable out of the pool but very serious during competition, also won the 50- and 100-meter races at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain.
The Itar-Tass news agency quoted police as saying that Popov was stabbed in the abdomen at about 11 p.m. on Saturday after becoming embroiled in an argument with a group of people selling watermelons on a street in the Southwest part of Moscow.
Police said they were investigating the stabbing, but no arrests had been reported by Sunday night.
Several prominent Russian athletes with big incomes in the West have run afoul of Russian gangsters in recent years, including demands for protection money to avoid attacks on loved ones living in this country.
But police said there was no indication that organized crime had been involved in Popov's stabbing.
Police said the incident appeared to be just another case of random violence, which has become a plague on the streets of the Russian capital.