French gymnast Samir Ait Said broke his leg in an incident which was described as a ‘horrific snap which echoed around the arena’
Samir Ait Said was given a standing ovation as he raised his hand and was stretchered after breaking his leg due to an awkward fall at the Olympics – an injury which caused ripples on social media and among those who saw the incident.
Said was participating in the vault event when he was injured, but was quickly tended to by a medical team.
The 26-year-old Ait Said snapped the lower part of his left leg after landing badly while competing in the vault in the Rio Olympic Arena.
He fell to the mat in agony clutching the back of his knee and the lower part of his leg, which visibly flopped to one side to gasps of horror from the crowd.
Ait Said was treated by medical staff for several minutes before being stretchered off to the applause of the crowd.
Rings specialist Aït-Said was France’s leading medal hope on the rings apparatus in Rio.
He had been third overall on rings with a score of 15.533 in early qualifying behind world champion Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece (15.833) and Olympic champion Arthur Zanetti of Brazil, who also scored 15.533 but had a higher execution mark than the French gymnast.
Below is a video of the incident but we’d like to warn you that it is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC:
Get well soon, Said!
With AFP inputs