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Videos of French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati<\/strong> went viral after he seemingly knocked off the bar with his crotch during the men\u2019s pole vaulting qualifying event at the 2024 Olympics<\/a>. However, that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n Videos<\/a> of Anthony, 21, went viral when it seemed like his bulge cost him a chance at the men\u2019s pole vault final on August 4. However, if viewers watched carefully, Anthony\u2019s shins hit the crossbar first, followed by his feet. While the Grasse, France, native\u2019s crotch caused the bar to become fully dislodged, he was already disqualified by his shins.<\/p>\n Plus, the men get three separate attempts at different heights to make the finals. Anthony successfully vaulted over the crossbar when it was at 5.40 meters and 5.60 meters, but he was unsuccessful at his three attempts to cross over at 5.70 meters.<\/p>\n Anthony didn\u2019t mention the viral moment during an interview after the event, but he admitted that the outcome was a \u201cbig disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a little disappointed, because I didn\u2019t miss anything on the third try at 5.70 m.,\u201d Anthony said in a statement released by the French Athletics Federation<\/a>. \u201cWhat I\u2019m missing is a bit of jumping around in training to fine-tune the settings. Just a technical session.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony continued, \u201cI had to give up on the last two, because following a small grade 1 in the adductor, I prioritized the race. I was 100 percent physically, but I was missing a little pole. The conditions were good. This is the first time that I attacked a competition without any stress. As I was a total outsider, I only had one objective: to play with the public. I was almost there.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite Anthony\u2019s package not being the cause of the crossbar\u2019s fall, social media users couldn\u2019t get enough of the clip.<\/p>\n \u201c21-year-old French pole-vaulter Anthony Ammirati may have lost out on Olympic Gold, but I see big things in his future,\u201d one person joked on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another person lumped Anthony in with fellow viral athletes<\/a> Stephen Nedoroscik<\/strong>, the bespectacled pommel horse specialist<\/a>, and Yusuf Dikec<\/strong>, the shooter from Turkey whose relaxed demeanor gained him fans.<\/p>\n \u201cNerdy pommel horse kid. Gen X Turkey chill shooter. French dude bringing two poles to the vaulting comp. This year\u2019s Olympics is chock full of dude-y goodness,\u201d the X<\/a> user wrote.<\/p>\n Surprisingly, Anthony\u2019s viral bulge moment isn\u2019t the first time a competitor\u2019s appendage has dislodged the crossbar during an event. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Japanese pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita<\/strong> had a near-identical mishap. When he attempted a vault during a qualifying event, his leg, then his crotch and finally, his arms knocked the bar from its place and disqualified him.<\/p>\n \u201cI never expected the foreign media to take me down like this,\u201d Hiroki wrote via X (Twitter at the time,) according to the BBC<\/em><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing if it was true, but I have to say I\u2019m pretty devastated that they\u2019d go so far to make something up to mock and ridicule me so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Hiroki later looked back on the moment and admitted it was a comical.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n