Olympian narrowly avoids 'nasty injury' after 'scary' gymnastic equipment failure

In a freak accident at the Paris Olympic games, Canadian gymnast Felix Dolci escaped severe injury when his handguard snapped during the men's all-around gymnastics final. The equipment failure abruptly sent Dolci to the floor in the midst of his bars routine, much to the shock of onlookers and the BBC commentary team , who confessed they'd seldom witnessed such an occurrence, hinting it might have caused a 'very nasty' mishap.

The Olympian was granted a second go, as per the rules, since the fault was not on him, but he couldn't achieve a strong score, seemingly hampered by harm to his hand. Commentator Matt Baker expressed his admiration for Dolci during the BBC broadcast , remarking, "Huge respect on every level for Felix Dolci," and "His competition was going so, so well. It is so unlucky for him [that he fell]. What a shame."

This was Dolci's debut at the Olympics, hailing from Quebec. Just last year at the Commonwealth Games 2022, he secured two silver medals in the team event and on the floor exercise. Dolci also participated with the Canadian team, landing eighth in the team final, while Team GB narrowly missed out on a medal, placing fourth, reports the Mirror .

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After competing on the bars for a second time in Paris, Dolci expressed gratitude to the audience despite his hand showing clear signs of injury from an earlier equipment failure. In conversation with Sharp Magazine before the Paris Olympics, Dolci reflected on his campaign at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, where he took home two golds, a silver, and two bronzes. Despite his success, he felt he had missed out.

"I lost myself two medal opportunities," he confessed. "I came in wanting to medal in all five events, plus the all-around, plus the team medal. That was my goal and I came up short." He added, "I think it's important to admit that. I know my value. There's no sense in saying, 'Well, I did well enough.' I'm happy, sure. But I'm not satisfied. I haven't proven anything.

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"I lost myself two medal opportunities. I came in wanting to medal in all five events, plus the all-around, plus the team medal. That was my goal and I came up short.

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"I think it's important to admit that. I know my value. There's no sense in saying, 'Well, I did well enough.' I'm happy, sure. But I'm not satisfied. I haven't proven anything."

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