French pole vaulter denied Olympics medal following incident involving his crotch, commentators struggle to find words
Two French athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics became internet sensations on Saturday, albeit for contrasting reasons.
For Leon Marchand, it was after he claimed his fourth swimming gold medal, as he matched the legendary Michael Phelps’ Beijing 2008 feat, and for 21-year-old pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati, it was following an incident involving his crotch that eventually denied him a medal.
The track and field events at the Paris Olympics started earlier this week with the pole vault qualification event being scheduled on Saturday. Ammirati successfully cleared 5.40 meters and 5.60 meters, both in his first attempt. However, he failed to clear 5.70 metres, owing to which he finished 12th in the qualifiers and this failed to make the finals.
During his third attempt to clear 5.70 metres, he failed bizarrely after his crotch hit the bar and it knocked down the pole, causing him to fail in his final try. The scene left commentators struggling to find words. For seconds, there was an awkward silence on-air before one of the commentators said that it wasn’t due to lack of height but due to a bizarre collision on his way down. The incident, however, quickly sparked memes and jokes all over social media.
Despite his exit from the Paris Olympics, where the pole vault was his only event, Ammirati, the U20 World Championships in Colombia two years ago, took the incident in good sport.
He said, via the French Athletic Federation: “I’m just glad I can make people smile and laugh. And who knows, maybe this will be the start of something amazing!”
The results for the pole vault qualifies were nothing surprising as Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, the current world record holder in the discipline, topped the qualification process by clearing 5.75 metres in his very first attempt. Norway’s Guttormsen Sondre finished second, and Greece’s Karalis Emmanouli took the third spot. None of the athletes, however, attempted the automatic qualifying mark 5.80 metres.
