South African international rower Murray Bales-Smith, who excelled in the Buffalo Regatta in East London this past weekend, has shared how he was stabbed while training last year and how that took a toll on his mental state.
The 27-year-old former Grey High pupil and Rhodes University alumni was attacked while cycling and stabbed three times in October last year. One wound nearly cost him the use of his arm as nerves and tendons were severed.
He lost his bicycle, an integral part of his training regime. Bales said the incident took place two weeks after coming back from the Rowing World Championships, which were held in Belgrade, Serbia, in September last year and where Bales-Smith came 11th place in the lightweight men’s single sculls.
A few weeks later he lost his father to cancer and in December he doubted he would be able to make a comeback in his sport.
Bales-Smith said just after the world champs he was in his off-season and cycling to get some fitness back ahead of his preseason, at about 10am, just outside Pretoria.
“Two guys jumped out of the bushes and swung at me, knocked me off my bike. The one guy took my bike and the other chased after me.
“In my attempt to get away I reached behind my back to get my phone out of my pocket in my cycling bib, but I was struggling to get it out, and I think they thought I was searching to get some kind of weapon and they backed off a bit.
“Then they turned around and realised I didn’t have anything and came back at me. I ran and managed to get the phone to fall out and they took that and eventually left me alone.
“But I’d been stabbed three times in the scuffle when they got me off the bike. The major one was to my elbow, and also to my leg. I ran for help, using my other hand to close the wound, back to the main road, and when a farmworker found me, who helped me flag down a car, there was blood everywhere.
“The arm was what the doctors were worried about.”
Bales-Smith said the case is being investigated by police and he has had trauma counselling.
He was hospitalised for three days and had a vascular surgeon (for veins) operate on him.
“They thought it was an artery, but it wasn’t — it was the ulnar nerve [which provides motor innervation to part of the forearm and majority of the hand] that was severed.
“I started some training in December, and pretty much only came back to training in January when I should have in October. My grip strength in that hand still isn’t great. That nerve is basically your funny bone so I had hypersensitivity in my hand. It’s still a bit sensitive but a lot better now. Luckily I have a good team doctor who has given me some great advice.”
“It’s mostly a leg sport, but you are suspending your weight off the rowing handles with your arms. But I was very lucky. Even with the stabbing, the surgeon said it missed the arteries and tendons.”
I mostly took December off and had to start from scratch in terms of my fitness. I threw myself in the deep end in January and joined the rest of the guys in the national team and survived the training load.
— Murray Bales-Smith
He is saving up for a new bike, but “definitely will think twice now before going on a run or cycle by myself”.
“I’ve done a few runs — it’s part of our training. I feel like I’m just more hyper-aware now.
“Rowing-wise I’m always with a team and feel relatively safe on the water, compared to being on a bike.
“I mostly took December off and had to start from scratch in terms of my fitness. I threw myself in the deep end in January and joined the rest of the guys in the national team and survived the training load.
“The first two weeks were very tough, but I managed to pull through and that was perfect timing because I ended up coming top in the Buffalo Regatta.”
Bales-Smith won the Silver Sculls — the senior men’s single race at the Buffalo Regatta on Saturday — finishing in 7:13.90, just two seconds ahead of University of Pretoria teammate Braden Howard.
He was also part of the Tuks rowing team that came first in the Grand Challenge in the senior men’s coxless fours.
Bales-Smith said he is now working towards earning a spot in the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under-23 and U-19 Championships, a combined event in St Catharines, Canada, from August 18 to 25.
He missed out on the Paris Summer Olympics as he was not eligible because of not having a lightweight doubles partner in the SA team.
“My focus now is the World Championships; I want to do better than my last time,” Bales-Smith said.
“At the moment, I am not eligible because I don’t have a lightweight doubles partner and that’s the only event for a smaller guy like me at the Olympics, which is a pity because this is the last year the lightweights will be at the Olympics.”
Beach sprint rowing has been added to the program for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The new discipline will replace lightweight double sculls, with this year's Olympic Games in Paris marking the last time when lightweight rowing is featured on the program.
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