MILAN -- Italian auto racing champion-turned-Paralympic gold medalist Alex Zanardi was moved back into intensive care Friday, three days after being transferred to a neurological rehabilitation center.
Zanardi was moved from a hospital in Siena to the Villa Beretta rehab center in Costa Masnaga on Tuesday, a month after he was seriously injured in a handbike crash.
But the hospital that runs the center said Zanardi has been transferred to the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan after his condition became unstable.
Zanardi underwent three surgeries at the Siena hospital to stabilize him and reconstruct his severely damaged face after he crashed into an oncoming truck near the Tuscan town of Pienza on June 19 during a relay event.
The 53-year-old athlete, who lost both of his legs in an auto racing crash nearly 20 years ago, had been on a ventilator in a medically induced coma since the crash.
He suffered serious facial and cranial trauma, and doctors have warned of possible brain damage.
Zanardi won four gold medals and two silvers at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics. He also competed in the New York City Marathon and set an Ironman record in his class.