French gymnast Samir Ait Said landed awkwardly on a vault, and a sickening snap echoed throughout the arena.
A split second later, he was clutching his contorted left leg, his tibia fractured and his Olympics over. Said was trying to fly over the vault and complete two backflips in a pike at men’s qualifying Saturday.
The injury highlighted the dangers of a sport that steps into the world’s spotlight every four years and led some to question if the current scoring system is making gymnasts push themselves too far.
Said was attempting his second vault when he crumpled. He used one hand to hold his leg just below the knee and put the other one to his head as he grimaced in pain in the moments just after the fall.
Medical personnel rushed to help him, placing him on a stretcher and carrying him off the podium to loud applause from the crowd.
“It is catastrophic our mental state is very bad but we each have a target and we have to carry on for ourselves,” teammate Cyril Tommasone said.
