Paris Olympics 2024: French Pole Vaulter Misses Out On Medal After His Crotch Hits The Bar

PARIS: French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati has created quite a buzz on the internet after a video of his painful crotch mishap during a pole vault attempt surfaced online and has gone viral.

He lost out on an opportunity to win a medal at his home Olympics when his crotch got caught on the crossbar while he was in action.

The 21-year-old French athlete was attempting to clear a height of 5.70 meters during his third attempt on Saturday. However, his attempt failed miserably as his crotch caught the bar, as a result of which, he fell to the ground.

Even the broadcasters were taken aback after watching the replay of this bizzare incident and the commentators were left speechless.

Ammirati finished with a combined score of 5.60 after four attempts. He fell short as he ended up in 12th position, which was not enough for him to advance to the final. The pole vault was Ammirati’s only event at these Games.

He had previously emerged victorious in the U20 World Championships in Colombia two years ago.

“It’s a big disappointment. I’m a bit gutted,” he said, via the French Athletic Federation.

“The conditions were good. It’s the first time I’ve started a competition without any stress. As I was a total outsider, I only had one goal: to play with the crowd. I was almost there.”

Despite his early exit from the competition due to his misfortune, Ammirati took the incident in a good spirit.

He said, “I’m just glad I can make people smile and laugh. And who knows, maybe this will be the start of something amazing!”

Meanwhile, there were no surprises in the results of the pole vault qualification as Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, the current world record holder in the discipline, emerged on top by clearing 5.75 metres in his very first attempt.

Guttormsen Sondre of Norway followed suit by finishing in second place while Greece's Karalis Emmanouli took the third spot. However, none of the athletes attempted the automatic qualifying mark of 5.80 metres.

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