Japanese pole vaulter says crotch not the crux of the problem
The Japanese pole vaulter who became a viral sensation after Tuesday's competition has denied that his penis ruined his shot at making it into the finals.
Hiroki Ogita made headlines worldwide after a video of the event appeared to show his nether regions dislodging the bar as he tried to scrape over a height of 5.30 metres.
RIO 2016 DAY 12: AS IT HAPPENED
At first his legs brushed the bar, causing it to wobble but not fall. Photo: IOC.
A camera stationed at the top of the bar captured the pain-staking moment with incredible detail. Photo: IOC.
The 28-year-old athlete failed to qualify for the pole vault final at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, even after clearing 5.45m on his second attempt.
After seeing the viral video, Ogita addressed the issue on Twitter, telling the public he was "devastated" about the amount of attention drawn to his package.
“I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this,” the Japanese national pole vault champion tweeted, according to a BBC translation.
“It’s one thing if it was true, but I have to say I’m pretty devastated that they’d go so far to make something up to mock and ridicule me so much.”
Ogita finished in 21st place after failing to qualify for the finals. Photo: Getty
“To be honest, it’s pretty rough, but I guess I’m in the spotlight so this might be some kind of opportunity,” Ogita added in a string of tweets.
Finally, after watching the video multiple times (like the rest of the world), Ogita was able to find a humorous side to the unfortunate event.
“Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself,” he finally conceded on Twitter. “LOL.”
