Day one at the Rio Summer Olympics dealt a nasty blow to French gymnast Samir Ait Said, who broke his leg in a cringeworthy injury that left his upper leg intact while his lower leg and foot dangled off in the opposite direction.
During the men’s vault qualification rounds Saturday, Ait Said confidently took a running start, hit his mark, did a beautiful triple somersault — and then he landed. Badly.
The sharp crack was heard throughout the arena, and the audience gasped when they saw the condition of his deformed leg.
“It was very difficult, very emotional,” French teammate Cyril Tommasone said. “It’s very hard for the French and for him. Very difficult.” Tommasone and the team said it wouldn’t be easy to maintain their focus but they “wanted to finish the competition for him and for us.”
“No words,” Ait Said’s teammate Jim Zona wrote in French on Twitter. “Sad and shocked for Samir, for the whole team. We have to find the strength to have a good finish to the competition.”
Ait Said, who has taken home gold, silver and bronze medals from the European Championships since 2010, was set to also compete in the horizontal bars, the parallel bars, the rings, the pommel horse, the floor exercise and the individual and team all-arounds, but it’s unclear at the moment if that will be possible.