Popular TNT Sports presenter Orla Chennaoui has shared a distressing account of being mugged in London earlier this month, just hours after hosting a prestigious university event featuring former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A High-Profile Engagement Followed by a Street Crime
In a packed week of professional engagements, Orla Chennaoui had been invited back to Queen's University Belfast. Her role was to host an anniversary dinner for the institution, which featured a special address from its chancellor, Hillary Clinton.
The former US Secretary of State, who was appointed chancellor in 2020, used the event to announce a significant £8 million bursaries fund aimed at helping more students access higher education. Chennaoui, best known for fronting cycling coverage on TNT Sports and Discovery's Paris 2024 Olympic Games coverage, described feeling 'completely overwhelmed' by the honour of hosting the event.
The Mugging: A 'Total Cliché' in the Capital
The high of that evening was brutally cut short the following morning. While in London on her way to a station, Chennaoui fell victim to a common street crime.
'I was mugged on the way to the station the following morning,' she explained in a social media update to fans. 'Total cliché, hooded gent on a bike snatched it out of my hand.'
The incident left her family in a state of panic after they heard her screaming down the phone before the line went dead and they were unable to contact her. Reflecting on the ordeal, she acknowledged that while frightening, 'in the end could have been much worse, only a stolen [phone], no bodily damage.'
A Week of Misfortune: Surgery Adds to the Strain
Remarkably, the mugging was not the only setback Chennaoui faced that week. In an unrelated domestic accident, she suffered a severe hand injury while crafting with her daughter.
'When I cut my finger while crafting with my daughter last week, turns out I’d sliced to the bone and severed a tendon,' she revealed. The injury was so serious that a surgeon decided to operate immediately.
The surgery has left her with one hand in a large protective brace, rendering it temporarily inoperable. 'So in the same week that I was mugged, I was left with one inoperable hand,' she stated.
Adopting a philosophical tone about her run of bad luck, the presenter concluded: 'Sometimes good stuff happens, sometimes bad, the universe isn’t out to get you, it just is what it is.'
