French gymnast Samir Aït Saïd had the worst possible start to the Olympics anyone could imagine. On Saturday he broke his leg after landing awkwardly on the vault, then as he was being stretchered from the arena he was dropped on the ground.
Gymnast who broke his leg in vault got dropped by medics trying to load him into ambulance
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Aït Saïd had his leg heavily wrapped, but didn’t appear to have it stabilized when medics attempted to hoist him into the back of an ambulance and lost control of the stretcher while loading him.
Mais noooooooooon.... pic.twitter.com/rO7kahG690
— David Arrieta (@arrietadavid1) August 6, 2016
The injury which ended Aït Saïd’s Olympics was horrific, and unfortunately it’s a pain he knows all too well. Four years ago while preparing for the 2012 London Olympics, he sustained an identical injury which caused him to miss the games. At 26 years old it’s unclear if he’ll be able to recover and compete in the 2020 Tokyo games, which makes this all the more horrible.
To compound the situation, Aït Saïd had already qualified for the finals in the men’s rings, which meant he had a chance to medal at Rio before the fateful vault.
