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

Zac Stubblety-Cook has revealed the secret injury he kept secret ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Australian breaststroke sensation Stubblety-Cook arrived in Paris nine months after suffering a horrific injury that seriously jeopardised his swimming career.

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

He thought nothing of it and continued with his training, but later discovered that he had suffered a fracture.

He was sidelined for at least a month, but decided to keep his injury a secret, apparently not wanting to draw attention to himself.

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

The Australian lost to French superstar Leon Marchand, but cannot regret his performance.

“I had to get out of the water with it for a bit, but I trained with it for three weeks and then had three weeks off, which was a bummer,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Zac Stubblety-Cook has revealed he broke his neck in a freak training accident

“I was in a good space and I felt like I broke the momentum. It was a freak accident.”

Stubblety-Cook reflected on the match against Marchand, who thrilled the French crowd with his superb performances.

“You could hear the crowd underwater,” Stubblety-Cook said. “It was so loud. It will go down as one of the highlights of my career. To be beaten by someone, a Frenchman in front of my home crowd … isn’t that the best combination?

“It sucks, not winning, but seeing and seeing that is incredible for him and the sport. Two golds in one night is insane.”

Stubblety-Cook hit out at his Chinese rival Qin Haiyang, one of 23 swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games.

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

The Australian decided not to talk about it, 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, it’s as simple as that,” Stubblety-Cook said. “I do have sympathy, I think, for the individual, because it’s not necessarily the individual’s fault. It’s the system.

‘We can isolate China and Russia, they have repeatedly broken the rules. But it is less about the country they come from and more about the system.

‘You’ve got 23 athletes… if that was Australia under sporting integrity, like we saw what happened to Shayna [Jack]they would be suspended for the time being.

“That was the sad part, right? We were talking about it three days before the Games. Athletes were feeling frustrated because it felt like the system had failed.

‘We all thought there was something potentially going to come out of the independent review. World Aquatics knew about it and it’s tough. Is it a commercial decision?

‘I’ve definitely gotten more frustrated with it. I’ve probably used it a little bit [for motivation].