The French pole vaulter bulge memes and jokes refer to a 2024 Olympics incident in which Anthony Ammirati hit the high bar with his crotch. The slow-motion clip of this failed vault became a sensation on social media after the event aired on August 3, and the memes were inevitable.
This blow as well as several other factors resulted in a score too low to allow Ammirati to move forward in the event, robbing the athlete of his dreams to win the gold. Whether or not the resulting internet fame is making him feel better or worse remains unknown for now.
What are all these French pole vaulter bulge memes?
Footage of a French pole vaulter bulge smacking into anything was pretty much guaranteed to result in memes. There’s nothing humans like more than video of someone getting hit in the balls, unless perhaps it’s video of someone getting hit in the balls in high-quality, slow-motion, on an international stage.
Naturally, people have been making French pole vaulter memes and puns about the athlete’s botched jump, with plenty of them being less than safe for work. The good news for Ammirati is that some of them are at least flattering, with jokesters suggesting that his baguette is simply too large to allow him this victory.
Who is Anthony Ammirati?
Ammirati is a 21-year-old track and field athlete from France who specializes in pole vaulting. He set a national record with a vault in 2021 and took home the gold in the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2022.
This was his first run at the Olympics, which he called a “childhood dream coming true” on Instagram. Though he is no doubt disappointed with his failure to make it to the finals, he will be remembered for some time regardless of whether he ever earns that gold medal.
Did the bulge really disqualify him?
There’s more to the story behind the Anthony Ammirati memes than his trouble with his personal pole. While viewers can’t be blamed for being drawn to the moment when his crotch met the pole, sharp eyes noticed that his shins hit the bar first, which would have resulted in a failed vault even if his bulge hadn’t finished the job.
Even knocking the pole down isn’t an automatic loss for a pole vaulter. Each one of these athletes gets three attempts to clear the bar at three different heights, and Ammirati failed to clear the highest at 5.70 meters all three times, lowering his score to the point that he wouldn’t qualify for the next round of the competition.
Ammirati’s response to the bulge video
The pole vaulter has not yet commented on the term “French pole vaulter bulge” trending online, but he did comment on his frustration with his inability to clear that final, painful bar.
“It’s a big disappointment,” he said to the French Athletics Federation. “I’m a little disgusted, because I don’t miss anything on the third try at 5.70 meters.”
“I was 100% physically, but I lacked a little pole.”
More French pole vaulter bulge memes
More Olympics memes:
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- ‘I know a retired hitman when I see one’: Olympics fans love Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec’s casual swag
- 35 memes pledging allegiance to the Steve ‘Pommel Horse Guy’ Nedoroscik
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