Top athlete James Connor, who was bound for the Rio Olympics, almost lost his life in a pub brawl James Connor required 31 staples and spent 3 months out of the sport to fully recover from his injuries. James Conner pictured after he was assaulted last September. JAMES Connor is nursing an ice pack against his head. He is also dying. Not that the Campbelltown teenager knows it. No, having just driven himself home - bloodied, but sober - from the nearby Macarthur Tavern, this promising 1500m runner, a kid already being groomed for the 2016 Rio Olympics, has no idea his brain is haemorrhaging. Nor that a pool cue, driven into his skull as he lay defenceless on the ground, caused it, either. Sure, a year from now, chatting with The Sunday Telegraph in this same family home, the 20-year-old will finally open up about his fear. His anger. Asking what our justice system might've deemed his own life worth? But right now, having grabbed said ice pack from the freezer, his only concern is getting into bed without disturbing parents Ann and Glenn, asleep down the hall. "All I wanted to do was sleep," Connor recalls. And had my twin brother Michael not come in, not made such a scene about calling an ambulance ... I never would've woken up. Ranked among Australia's most promising young athletes - with no less than Adidas sponsoring and mentoring his Olympic push via their adiRunner program - Connor is competing in memory of those young lives lost. Running not only for himself, but those like Thomas Kelly, killed in July last year after being king hit in an unprovoked Kings Cross attack. Indeed, it was only two months later, on September 28, when sidelined from training with achilles tendinitis, Connor agreed to a rare night out with a group of mates. While playing pool, he and his mates were confronted by another group of young men. First, a cue was hurled at them. Then beer. Eventually one of his friends was attacked by one, then two, rivals. "I've never been in a fight in my life," explains the university student and part-time Red Rooster cook. So even when I had beer thrown on me, I never thought about retaliating. I kept thinking 'c'mon boys, let's stop this stupid shit'. James Connor is now back on track and continues his training for Rio 2016. But then when two guys started on my mate, I guess, being the sober one, I thought I'd break it up. Get him out. Before I know it I'm on the ground, bodies piling everywhere. Then there was just a big crunch on the side of my head. While he has never been shown the CCTV footage, Connor understands his attacker, currently serving 18 months, swung a pool cue from above his head and down onto his skull. "After driving home, my head was throbbing and I started to vomit," he recalls. I was out of it. Couldn't stand, couldn't talk. Apparently I was having the first of two brain bleeds. Connor was eventually whisked to Campbelltown hospital, then Liverpool, for emergency surgery. Drilling into his skull, neurosurgeons spent 48 hours operating and draining blood from his brain. An ordeal completed with 31 head staples. And seeing it happen to others, yeah, it scares me. Makes me angry," he says. You see the sentences and think 'if I was dead, what would they deem my life worth?' I'm lucky. After three months, was back training. But as someone studying to become a history teacher, I realise times change - and we're experiencing a significant shift right now. Why do you young people think it's OK to brawl? To attack people on the ground? And how do we change that? I mean, they say down the track I may get epilepsy but, you know ... I should be dead.