Kya Buller
Pole vaulter and Olympian Anthony Ammirati has spoken out after he made headlines during the games - but not for the reasons he had hoped.
On 3 August, 21-year-old Ammirati seemed to be heading for glory in the men’s Olympic pole vaulting event.
Impressively, he cleared 5.40 and 5.60 meter bars, and the French sportsman seemed poised to clear the 5.70 meter pole without breaking much of a sweat.
But it wasn't meant to be, as the bar came crashing down and ended his Olympic dreams.
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In case you have managed to miss the now-viral footage, it appears to show Ammirati's penis getting stuck on the pole, which to lead to some discomfort and confusion, thus leading to his fail.
Watch the moment here:
He was disqualified from the games as a result.
While Ammirati has refrained from directly referencing his penis, he has spoken out about something else being crushed - his dreams.
He told the French Athletics Federation that he was ‘a bit gutted’ to have missed out on a spot in the final.
He said: “I’m a bit gutted, because I didn’t miss anything on the third attempt at 5.70 m.
“What I did miss was a bit of jumping in training to fine-tune the settings. Just a technical session.
“I was 100 percent physically, but I was missing a bit of pole vault."
He added: "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 interact with the audience. I was almost there.”
Hopefully the pole vaulting star will be able to look past his Olympics loss and focus on previous successes.
The Grasse-born athlete is decorated with many gold medals prior to Paris 2024, including from his stints at the 2022 World U20 Championships and the 2021 European Under 20 Championships.
The Paris moment seemed to stump commentators who scrambled to make sense of what they had just watched.
One appeared to say: "On the way down..." before trailing off, while another simply made a sound of disbelief as they watched a replay of the shocking scene.
Social media has been glued to the now infamous moment.
One person wrote on X: "Stiff competition.. got everyone nervous these games.”
Another added: "I think its a bigger flex than winning a medal lmao.”
While a third quipped: "Oh he brought that baguette to the games."