French diver slips on springboard, falls into pool during Paris Olympics inauguration
Divers know that once they hit the springboard or platform, one little slip-up can mean disaster.
Alexis Jandard found out the hard way this week when he slipped off the springboard Thursday while at the inauguration of the Paris Aquatics Centre.
The Paris Aquatics Centre is one of the venues that will be used for the Olympic Games later this summer.
Luckily, Jandard was not seriously injured in the fall, just a little embarrassed, as French President Emmanuel Macron was in attendance.
Jandard can be seen bouncing twice on the 3-meter springboard before slipping and hitting his lower back, which caused him to fall into the pool.
He added that he was bleeding from the fall but will continue to train.
"I fell in front of the president. I fell in front of the whole of France," Jandard said on Instagram. "I’ve broken boards before, but the board had never broken me before. Now it has. I would have preferred this ceremony to have gone well from start to finish. There was that little hitch. If it made people smile a little, so much the better."
Jandard won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in the team event, a bronze in the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard at the 2023 World Championships, and he also competed for France at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.