Team France’s Anthony Ammirati was betrayed by his… schlong, at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Upon becoming a viral internet sensation, the pole vaulter spoke out about his NSFW loss. As jokes broke out from his defeat, the 21-year-old athlete said he was “100% there physically.”
Anthony likely didn’t expect to become famous as a result of losing to his manhood on Saturday (August 3), when he hoped to succeed the French Olympic champion, Renaud Lavillenie.
Representing the country hosting the 33rd Summer Olympics, the French athlete failed to qualify for the men’s pole vault event, missing the 5.70-meter bar as a result of his bulge blocking his win.
Naturally, people on social media had a field day with the awkward blunder, as an X user (formerly known as Twitter) joked about Anthony bringing his “baguette” to the Olympic Games, while others questioned what type of “pole” the TV sports commentators were talking about.
Team France’s Anthony Ammirati was betrayed by his… schlong, at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
Others took to the athlete’s Instagram page. While some slammed the alleged ongoing “sexual harassment,” others looked at the viral moment in a positive light.
“Nobody will remember the winners, because you win the imagination of your followers & this it’s top,” an Instagram user commented.
A person wrote: “Warming hearts from girls all over the planet.”
Upon becoming a viral internet sensation, the pole vaulter spoke out about his NSFW loss
Image credits: iamedgardosicat
Anthony Ammirati failed the bar and the commentators are clearly having a hard time acknowledging what happened 😂 HELP I’M DYING pic.twitter.com/5hOHttVA5g
— Gladys Wotching (@Glodyswotcher) August 3, 2024
Someone quipped: “Plz start using onlyfans.”
“We love seeing your HUGE effort,” a netizen added. “Never knew pole vaulting could be that HARD! So thank you for showing us!”
A separate individual chimed in: “Imagine getting famous the way you did. Congratulations on both accounts.”
As jokes broke out from his defeat, the 21-year-old athlete said he was “100% there physically”
Anthony has yet to respond to his newfound internet fame. Nevertheless, he told the French Athletic Federation of his loss: “It’s a big disappointment. I’m a bit gutted because I’m not missing anything on the third try at 5.70 m.”
He continued: “What I’m missing is a bit of jumping around in training to fine-tune the settings. Just a technical session.
“I had to give up on the last two because following a small grade 1 in the adductor, I prioritized the race.
“I was there 100% physically, but I was missing a little pole […] I was almost there.”
The French athlete’s defeat prompted questions about the discipline’s sportswear, as a person asked on Reddit why male athletes didn’t “tuck” their private parts while performing.
Someone claiming to practice the sport responded: “It’s definitely a valid question, but me as a male pole vaulter, we wear tight, form-fitting gear that helps minimize any interference, as we focus on precision, technique, and body control to clear the bar.
Anthony likely didn’t expect to become famous as a result of losing to his manhood on Saturday (August 3)
“The gear we wear is designed to reduce drag and distraction, so while it might seem like a concern, our training and equipment are geared towards making sure every millimeter counts in our favor.”
While most attention stayed on Anthony’s crotch, another body part actually hit the crossbar first, according to pole vaulting coach Branko Miric.
Branko, who is the founder of Apex Vaulting, told Today on Sunday (August 4): “He definitely hit the bar with his legs first and was going to miss that attempt anyway.
@iamedgardosicat #Paris2024 #Olympics #PoleVault #TeamFrance #AnthonyAmmirati #Fails #Bloopers ♬ Olympic Official Song Paris 2024 – Ed Puerto Producer
“You have three tries to clear a bar and if it cleared, then you get another three attempts at the next bar, which gets raised. He just had a miss.”
Branko reportedly said it’s a “very common occurrence” for an athlete to not get enough depth to clear a vault over the crossbar, which was the case with Anthony’s viral miss.
“When you’re pole vaulting, not only do you need the height, but you need the depth,” Branko explained. “You have to go deep enough to get over the bar. It’s very common in the vault, you’ll see people who look like they have the height, but they don’t have enough depth and they come down on it and the bar falls off.”
“Bro is suffering from success,” a reader commented
