Some things are bigger than medals. Take it from Anthony Ammirati, the 21-year-old French pole-vaulter who competed in the Olympic games in Paris. As with all Olympians, Ammirati had been preparing for this moment most of his life—he began pole-vaulting at age 12 and earned the world junior title in 2022. He's a handsome and thoughtful young man, not to mention a skilled athlete, whose motto is "Never give up, never let go." In other words, he's got the whole package.
Last August, during the semifinals of the pole-vaulting event, Ammirati needed to clear a height of 5.7 meters. He was nothing but confident—after all, his personal best was 5.81 meters. "The conditions were good," he told the French Athletics Federation. "It's the first time I've started a competition with no stress." Maybe he was too relaxed?
As he catapulted himself into the air, Ammirati hit a stumbling block of sorts. Film analysis may lead you to believe it was his leg or shin that got in the way. But ultimately the crossbar got bumped by his… boudin blanc.
Now it's perfectly understandable for athletes to blame a loss on something other than themselves—unfair officiating, performance-enhancing drugs, transgenderism (and rightly so). Ammirati, however, can actually blame his pole. It simply got in the way.
As Coach Tony D'Amato put it in Any Given Sunday, "Life's just a game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small." It turns out pole-vaulting is also a game of inches but the margin for error can be, well, sizable.
Ammirati called his loss a "big disappointment." We beg to differ and look forward to welcoming him to Los Angeles in 2028, where he'll be sure to give his rivals some stiff competition. And by then, we imagine, he'll have many lucrative sponsors, perhaps including Le Coq Sportif?
Anthony Ammirati, you are a man endowed with many gifts. You are also a 2024 Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year. Félicitations!
