Germany’s Olaf Scholz sports eyepatch post-injury, says 'excited to see the memes'

German chancellor Olaf Scholz shared a photo of himself wearing an eyepatch after suffering an injury on his face while jogging, which sparked a meme fest on X.

The minor injuries were sustained by Scholz after he fell while running during the weekend which also led to the cancellation of some of his appointment.

On Monday (September 4), Scholz shared his picture on X, which was earlier known as Twitter, in which he was seen sporting a black patch over his injured right eye, and red scrape marks can be seen visible around the edge.

“Thanks for the well wishes. It looks worse than it is!” he posted along with the picture on his official account, stating, “Excited to see the memes.”

Meme fest

His post was followed by plenty of memes which included pictures featuring a pirate at a ship’s wheel, a cartoon pirate brandishing a cutlass, Scholz wearing a hat with crossbones and a skull on it, and carrying a sword.

The postalso received many messages that wished the leader a speedy recovery. Soon after the tweet was posted, it received more than 9,000 likes and 2,000 comments.

Chancellor’s spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said that Scholz, who has been running regularly for many years, was in good shape despite the injury. This week, he had planned to attend his scheduled appointments, which included a speech in the parliament on Wednesday and a tour of the IAA car show to be held in Munich on Tuesday.

“He’s doing well under the circumstances,” Hebestreit saidin a regular press briefing. “He was in a good mood this morning, although he still looks a little battered,” he added.

As per local media, Scholz fell while he was running in his hometown of Potsdam, which is 28 kilometres (17 miles) southwest of Berlin.

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Since December 2021, Scholz has been leading Germany. He earlier served as the finance and labour minister of the country and also held the position of Hamburg's mayor.

In a profile uploaded on the website of his party, Scholz stated that he disliked sports when he was studying in the school but acquired its taste from his wife Britta Ernst. “Today I jog as often as I can,” he said.

Scholz has said that he tries to find time for rowing, jogging, or walking two or three times a week and also loves cycling.

(With inputs from agencies)

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