French gymnast Samir Ait Said snaps his leg on vault

RIO DE JANEIRO — French gymnast Samir Ait Said will now be remembered alongside Joe Theismann and Kevin Ware.
Ait Said’s left leg snapped on his vault landing, the sharp crack able to be heard throughout the arena. As he rolled over, clutching his leg just below the knee, his foot and the lower half of his shin dangled in the opposite direction of the rest of his leg.

Ait Said was on the ground for several minutes as medical personnel worked on him. The French gymnastics federation said later he's broken both his tibia and fibia, and medical personnel stabilized him before he was moved to prevent additional damage to his leg.

“We will do more exams to see if it is just the bone,” French team leader Corrine Moustard-Callon said.

The crowd applauded when Ait Said was finally loaded onto a stretcher, and he put a hand up in acknowledgment as he was taken out of the arena. He was taken to a local hospital and the federation said he would have surgery soon.

“It was very difficult, very emotional,” French teammate Cyril Tommasone said. “It’s very hard for the French and for him. Very difficult.”

France didn't make the team final, finishing last of the 12 teams. Only the top eight teams made Monday night’s final.

But that’s hardly a surprise, given how upset Ait Said’s teammates were by his horrific injury. And the fact it happened to Ait Said, who missed the 2012 Olympics after breaking his right tibia in three places -- also on vault -- at the European championships a few months before the Games.

“It’s very, very difficult,” Tommasone said of trying to maintain their focus. “But we wanted to finish the competition for him and for us.”