Japanese pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita became an unfortunately comedic footnote to the Rio Olympics when footage surfaced that appeared to show his manhood was the primary cause of his disqualification.
And now he’s trying to clear the air, denying that his penis was the source of things going so awry in his Olympic experience.
As Ogita attempted to clear the bar set at 5.3 meters (17.3 feet) in the first round of competition, replays appeared to show that after his shin grazed that bar, his manhood made the contact that ultimately dislodged the the bar.
Japanese pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita' dream crushed by…
…His phallus caused him to foul during qualifying rounds. pic.twitter.com/hrubYFv1xB— rodriQuez (@rodriQuez) August 16, 2016
Pole vaulting coach David Yeo insisted that “the crumpling of the fabric which happened at the wrong position” fueled the belief that Ogita’s manhood caused the disqualification.
Ogita, meanwhile, took to social media to express shock over how the story has spun completely out of control.
“I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this,” Ogita wrote on Twitter, via The Sun. “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 later went on to write about how embarrassing the entire situation has been for him, a completely understandable response.
To be honest, it’s pretty rough, but I guess I’m in the spotlight so this might be some kind of opportunity. I’ll do my best and get the results so that I get the last laugh. It doesn’t matter if you do it for a joke or whatever, I ask you to go and watch an actual game at a stadium for once. I hope you appreciate, even a bit, what a great sport pole vaulting is.”
One cannot help but feel extremely bad for Ogita for the undeniably awkward situation he has found himself in. His entire Olympic experience, something he has dedicated years upon years of his life to reach such a pinnacle, has been completely derailed by the incident. Poor guy.