Rhianna Benson
An Olympic diver drew a wave audible gasps from the audience during last night's 10m platform semi-finals - but tragically, for all the wrong reasons.
So much so, that a terror-stricken sporting commentator hurled an array of criticism at judges of this year's competition, imploring them to intervene after the athlete almost suffered a devastating injury.
Following a nail-biting Olympic tournament so far, Italian diver Maia Biginelli last night took to the board in a bid to bag a medal at Paris' Aquatics Centre.
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Within seconds of launching herself into the air, however, the 21-year-old sparked an immediate wave of concern after she appeared to be just inches away from smacking her head against the board.
Amid her attempt to perform a 3.2 difficulty three-and-a-half somersaults inward dive in the tuck position for her third effort of yesterday's (Mon 5 Aug) qualifiers, she narrowly avoided the devastating injury, with her hair was just millimetres from the board.
As well as horrifying members of the colossal audience, Biginelli's near-fatal dive also prompted BBC commentator to call judges to act in penalising the sportswoman to prevent a similarly catastrophic injury in the futute.
Become visibly irate by the lack of immediate action, Leon Taylor - who represented Team GB in diving back in 2004 - yelled live on air: "Judges, you need to do your job now!"
"You didn’t do it this morning. Do your job now," he begged. "That is a dangerous, dangerous dive.
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"Her hair hits the diving board, she should be massively penalised for that. Her hair pretty much hits the board."
Springboard diver Taylor - who previously won medals at all major international events including a silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics - went on to demand: "What are you watching from your seats? What are you watching?
"We’ve got a duty of care in this sport to keep athletes safe. You’ve got to penalise. Coaches, you can see that as well."
Shockingly, however, the Italian athlete went on to receive a pretty impressive 41.60 for her performance, with no penalty for the 'dangerous' dive having been inflicted.
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By the look on Biginelli's face as she exited the pool, however, it certainly looked as though the diver was more than aware of the error in her ways.
A replay of the rising star's endeavour was subsequently shown to her by her coaches on a small screen.
Another BBC commentator said on the matter: "They’re showing her the replay now so hopefully she can process that herself because that was frightening to watch."