Team GB staff praised for life-saving act on beloved Uzbekistan coach Tulkin Kilichev
Two members for Great Britain's medical team have been praised for their efforts to save the life of Uzbekistan's beloved head boxing coach.
Tulkin Kilichev was celebrating flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov's gold medal performance when he fell ill backstage.
Kilichev's athletes confirmed the coach was revived from apparent cardiac arrest by two members of Britain's training staff on Sunday morning (AEST).
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Team GB doctor Harj Singh and physical therapist Robbie Lillis stated there was a "cry for a doctor" that prompted the pair to rush over to Kilichev, who was in life-threatening distress.
"Harj was the first person who responded and I followed with the emergency trauma bag that we carry with us," Lilis told the PA news agency.
"Quite a lot of coaches were pretty visibly distressed around the whole situation, so it took us a moment to clear all of them out of the way.
"Initially he didn't come back but, about 20 to 30 seconds later, after Harj continued doing CPR, all of a sudden he came back conscious with us, which was great."
Abdumalik Khalokov celebrates winning gold with Coach Tulkin Kilichev. Getty
The Uzbek team went on to win five golds — more than any Olympic team in the last 20 years — in tribute to Kilichev, who is understood to be in a stable condition in a Paris hospital.
Lilis offered his best wishes to Kilichev, stating he hopes the coach makes a "full recovery."
"I'm very, very thankful that we did have all the equipment on us, and myself and Harj being there and being trained," he said.
Super heavyweight Olympic Champion Bakhodir Jalolov revealed the coach had remained in contact with the team while recovering, and his fighters responded with a historic performance.
“(Kilichev) is more than a coach or a father, in fact,” Bakhodir Jalolov said after winning his second super heavyweight gold medal.
“He has raised us. He educated us. He has transmitted the sports spirit to us. He has been with me in my heart, and tomorrow we will be going to visit him in the hospital.”
Jalolov was the last of Uzbekistan’s five Paris champions to climb the podium in the best Olympic performance since Cuba also won five golds at the 2004 Athens Games.
Gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan with gold medal. Europa Press via Getty Images
Uzbekistan won the final five men’s gold medal bouts contested at Roland Garros, starting with Dusmatov — a victory followed by that frightening moment for Kilichev.
“This is history for Uzbekistan, and I’m emotional because becoming a two-time Olympic champion was my dream," Jalolov said.
"Now I feel very happy, and I will continue my career as a professional boxer.”
Lazizbek Mullojonov won the heavyweight title, joining a remarkable Olympic lineage at that weight including Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon and Oleksandr Usyk.
“We are building a new generation of boxers," Mullojonov said.
"This is the result of all the federation’s work.”
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Indeed, Uzbekistan has responded sharply to its twisting fortunes in the past two Games under Kilichev's leadership.
The team claimed three gold medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 to signal its arrival as an international power, but won just one gold medal — Jalolov's first — five years later in Tokyo.
With Jalolov and Dusmatov returning alongside a new crew of gifted young boxers, Uzbekistan has returned to dominance.
