Few Olympic sports can match the coordination and grace of synchronized diving. But if it doesn't work out, it can also be quite spectacular.
Thankfully, French athlete Alexis Gendart also showed his funny side on Thursday when he fell off a step stool during the inauguration of the Paris Aquatics Center, one of the venues for this summer's Olympics.
Wearing his country's tricolor trunks and desperate to impress his star guest, French President Emmanuel Macron, Jandar jumped once or twice… then slipped and fell flat on his back. The plan fell into the water. The level of slapstick was only increased further by his two other divers, barely making a ripple from his three meters in height.
“Jai Glisse Chef” — or “I slipped, boss” — Jandard, 26, posted a photo on Instagram late Thursday showing him with blood stains on his back from a diving board.
“I collapsed in front of the president. I collapsed in front of the whole of France,” he said with a smile while walking and holding a “debriefing session” on Instagram Stories. “I've broken boards before, but never had a board break me. Now it has. I wish this ceremony had gone well from start to finish. We had a problem. If it can make people smile even a little bit, then that's the best.”
He said: “I had a little blood, but it's nothing serious. It won't prevent me from going to training this afternoon.”
Gendar represented France in the men's 3-meter springboard at the Tokyo 2020 Games, which were postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. He plans to do so again this year.
Officials will be hoping his fall does not presage the event itself, which faces questions over the safety of the particularly ambitious opening ceremony.
The 2024 Paris Games are scheduled to open with 10,000 athletes and a fleet of 90 boats sailing down the Seine, marking the first time the Games have been held outside the controlled environment of a single stadium. Become.
Some Parisians balk at the all-out security and surveillance being introduced to their city to keep large events safe.
But many others are already excited about this sports festival in the City of Lights, the first since the coronavirus-related lockdown that prevented the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics from being held. There is. I have to get injured now,'' Gendar told French television station RMC Sport, echoing his own anxiety ahead of the gala. “But everything is fine. No problems.”
