Page 5 - IAV Digital Magazine #600

Pole Vaulter’s Olympic Dream
Shattered By His Own Penis
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/obcsGWKc27k
James Goldman
French Pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati saw his Olympic dream go up in smoke in unfortunate cir- cumstances with his penis causing his downfall.
The 21-year-old, competing in front of his home crowd, looked all set to clear 5.70m and take a major step towards the final of his event, before disaster struck.
As the Frenchman prepared to relin- quish his pole, his own manhood grazed the bar with enough force to send it crashing to the floor, thus ending his hopes of a medal.
Ammirati had already cleared two heights before his bulge brought a premature end to his competition. He eventually fin- ished 12th with a height of 5.60 in Group A.
Robin Emig and Thibault Collet, Ammirati’s compa- triots, meanwhile, recorded heights of 5.60 meters and 5.75 meters, respectively.
Collet, who became the third best French per- former in pole
vault history in June after clearing a bar at 5.95 meters, said of his performance on Saturday: ‘When people say that the Games are different, well, it really is different. ‘Today, I missed my competition. I knew that this qualification was going to be tough and now I’m tak- ing it in the face.
‘The Olympic Games are over. I’m going to pack my bags before going home.’
Ammirati wasn’t the only athlete to suffer a disap- pointing prema- ture exit on Saturday with British sprinter Jeremiah Azu dis- qualified
‘Honestly, I just reacted to a sound,’ said Azu before confirming he would appeal
the decision. ‘It’s a shame. The crowd are so excited and the French fans are here.
“It’s a shame that they didn’t let me run at the protest – I’m not sure what rules are being used but they have said I need to go back and put an appeal in so I’m going to go through the process and see what happens.
‘I was saying I wanted to run with the protest. In any other race, they allow you to run and then they review it but this is the Olympics and clearly it’s different rules.
‘I just want to put in this appeal as quickly as possi- ble so that I can come back out here and get into the semi-final.’
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine