Anthony Ammirati has broken his silence following his viral pole vault performance at the Paris Games.

The 21-year-old French man made a memorable Olympic debut on Saturday, competing in front of a home crowd during the qualifying round of track and field.

Unfortunately, his aspirations for a podium finish were thwarted when he accidentally struck the crossbar with his body.

This brief misstep quickly became a topic of discussion online. As a first-time Olympian, Ammirati aimed to clear a height of 5.70 meters but ultimately finished in 12th place, marking the end of his Olympic journey in Paris, as the pole vault was his sole event.

“It’s a big disappointment,” he told the French Athletics Federation. “I’m a bit gutted, because I didn’t miss anything on the third attempt at 5.70 m. What I did miss was a bit of jumping in training to fine-tune the settings.”

“I was 100% physically, but I was missing a bit of pole vault. The conditions were good,” Ammirati added.

“It’s the first time I’ve started a competition without any stress. As I was a total outsider, I only had one goal: to play with the public. I was almost there.”

The Frenchman didn’t directly address the online frenzy surrounding his unfortunate gaff.

Although not the first to suffer such a fate on the track and field event, many on the internet had a lot to say about the athlete’s accident.

“Anthony Ammirati failed the bar and the commentators are clearly having a hard time acknowledging what happened,” said one X user, who posted a clip of the broadcast.

“Wow, even though he lost the game, in a way, he won his life,” another said.

“Sending love and light to this man’s dms,” a third posted.

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