The photo above was snapped by a spectator at the collegiate power lifting championships at Penn State.

The unfortunate competitor, who expressed a plea to remain anonymous, told surgeons that he was "stuck" at the bottom of a personal best attempt in the squat lift when he "sort of pulled his stomach in and pushed extra hard, at the same time as trying to complete the lift."

He remembers a loud popping, splattering noise then a fierce stabbing pain and then not being able to move from the squat position. He remained in this position for about half an hour, since trying to stand caused him overwhelming agonizing pain.

Paramedics arrived and applied anesthesia on the spot and carried him to an ambulance. He was rushed to surgery, where surgeons described the trauma as "an explosive and aggravated prolapse of the bowel".

Meanwhile it was revealed that the weight was removed from his shoulders at the time of the incident by two "spotters" on either side of the lifter. The third spotter who was standing behind the lifter was unfortunately sprayed with fecal matter at the time of the incident. This spotter promptly fainted when he realized the extent of of the injury to the lifter, who was a personal friend.

This compounded the task of first aid officers who were at a loss as to how to treat the injury to the lifter in any case, who remained in the squatting position moaning in pain much to the consternation of the helpless audience. The hapless lifter had successful surgery to relieve the prolapse, but remained immobilized with his feet elevated in stirrups for 2 weeks to ensure "internal compliance with the surgery and that the organs retracted successfully".

To add insult to injury, the ex-lifter required rectal stitching to partially occlude the anal orifice and stitch the rectal passage (which had significantly expanded and torn during the prolapse) and also was put on a low fiber low residue diet to combat flatulence to avoid any possibility of a recurrence.