Sifiso Lungelo Thabete, a bodybuilder from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, reportedly died on Saturday after breaking his neck in an accident.

In a video that been circulating on social media, the IFBB World champion in the up-to-75kg category can be seen flexing his muscles as he walks to the mat; he then tries to do a backflip, but lands on his head.

His friends and medics run to the bodybuilder for assistance.

According to bodybuilding blogs, he never recovered from the fall.

Thabete’s recent victory was at the second edition of the IFBB Muscle Mulisha Grand Prix in the bodybuilding under 23 over 75kg division.

In that competition, however, he completes the backflip successfully. To see that, forward to about 8:30 in the video.

It appears the mistake he made in his fatal attempt was to try to do a backflip while still having forward momentum. When he was able to do it successfully, he was standing still.

He should instead have opted to do a regular somersault if he was running forward. Physics was against this unlucky competitor.

Watch him below: