As Said grabbed around his knee and looked up at his lower left leg, he saw it flop unnaturally to the side.
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Said, 26, was competing in the qualification of the Men’s Vault when he landed awkwardly, breaking his left leg below the knee.
According to US men’s gymnastics coach Mark Williams, the vaulting apparatus in the Rio Games’ main competition arena has “a little extra kick to it”.
Samir Ait Said severely injured his leg while vaulting during team preliminaries Saturday.
Onlookers gasped as Said went to ground clutching his leg after a bad landing.
“I don’t like this new system”.
“There’s always more hard, higher risk”.
Ait Said was carried away from the arena on a stretcher as fans gave him a standing ovation, NBC Olympics reported.
“He is in the hospital with a doctor now”.
To his credit, Ait Said handled the catastrophic injury about as well as anyone could hope.
“Even though we’re on different teams we know each other and I’ve known Samir since I was 14”. Here’s the obvious pain Said was in as he was taken off the floor.
In the grotesque footage, viewers can see the bone appearing to be out of place after the horror fall.
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The 25-year-old was helped off, but continued on the pommel horse, before hobbling off.
