A top French diver suffered an embarrassing – and painful – moment during the inaugural event for a venue that will host diving, swimming and water polo during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
With French President Emmanuel Macron in attendance at the new Olympic Aquatic Centre on Thursday, Alexis Jandard slipped while attempting a dive off a springboard 33 feet in the air, causing him to fall backward and hit his back on the board before falling into the water.
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Understandably embarrassed, Janyard was able to joke about the mishap on social media and on French television while also thanking fans for their support.
«For your information, my back is fine, but my ego…» he joked on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Janyard, 26, shared photos of welts and scrapes on his lower back from the fall, but he escaped serious injury and is continuing to train.
«I fell in front of the president. I fell in front of the whole of France,» Jandard said in an Instagram story. «I’ve broken boards before, but the board had never broken me before. Now it has.»
«I would have preferred this ceremony to have gone well from start to finish,» he added. «There was that little hitch. If it made people smile a little, so much the better.”
Jandard won silver and bronze medals and the 2022 and 2023 World Championships for France, and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He’s expected to compete for a gold medal in his home country.
The Paris Olympics begin on July 26 and run through Aug. 11.
