US Olympian ‘almost blinded’ after savage assault (VIDEO)

Olympic medallist Kim Glass suffered horrific facial injuries after a homeless man threw a metal pipe at her in Los Angeles, in what was described as a senseless and random attack.

The 37-year-old Glass took to social media following the attack to show her injuries, which included her right eye being swollen almost completely shut and a large cut on the bridge of her nose.

Glass detailed on Instagram that she had been eating lunch with a friend and was approached by the man as she left, adding that the attack appeared entirely random and that she seemed to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“He had something in his hand,” said Glass of the man, whom she also described as being homeless. 

“[He] just ran up,” she added. “And he just looked at me with some pretty hateful eyes.

“As I turned to tell my friend, ‘I think something’s wrong with him and I think he’s going to hit the car’ - before I knew it, a big metal bolt-like pipe hit me. It happened so fast. He literally flung it from the street.

“It kinda took me down and out.” 

Her list of injuries was extensive: broken bones, as well as other cuts and bruises.

“I do have multiple fractures,” she said. “Yes I look like ET.” 

Glass - who is a former resident of Russia - also explained that the man in question was quickly apprehended by passers-by and detained until police arrived on the scene.

“Guys, just be safe out there … there’s a lot of mentally ill people on these streets right now,” she added of Los Angeles, a city which many consider to have a significant problems with homeless people, as well as with crime in general. 

“You shouldn’t have to be fearful when you walk, but it’s true. You guys just be safe, OK.”

Glass was a key member of the US team who won volleyball silver at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and later played for the now-defunct Universitet Belgorod in Russia between 2008 and 2009.