Olympic gold sailor says he was struck by lightning, attacked by killer whales in six-month span

headl

Martin Kirketerp has lived the highest of the highs being an Olympic gold medalist, but he also lived out two nightmares earlier this year.

The Danish sailor said in a recent interview that he had been struck by lightning in January and then swarmed by orcas just six months later.

Kirketerp, who won gold in 2008 in Beijing, was competing at the SailGP event in Singapore as a grinder for ROCKWOOL Denmark. After the race, he was trying to help the New Zealand boat back to the harbor for the winning ceremony after their victory. But lightning struck the boat, and electricity was running through him.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp Ibsen of Denmark take to the sea in a spare boat borrowed from the Croatian team as they compete in the 49er class race held at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center during day nine of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 17, 2008, in Qingdao, China.   (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

"I'm just functioning as a human lightning conductor right there," he said to Olympics.com.

"It was a very, very unpleasant experience, because it goes from zero to 100 in a split second. You just hope that it is ending soon and doesn’t accelerate further. You start asking yourself where you will be in a few seconds. I was scared while it was on, I'd like to admit that."

Kirketerp said he's been shocked plenty of times, as he's "worked quite a bit as a handyman at home." But "this is different."

"You can feel it all the way down through the body. It's a huge shock. It's not because it's so painful. You can really feel it, but it's not like a pain. It's more what goes on in your head," he added. "You can just feel that it is tearing your whole body, and you are