A Frenchman’s clumsy jump in front of Macron went viral

He French diving swimmer Alexis Janard he said he was glad people were smiling after suffering a ridiculous fall during the opening ceremony of the olympic aquatic center attended by the president Emmanuel Macron.

Janard, who has competed in the Tokyo Olympics, slipped on one of the boards as he prepared to jump with two other divers, before bouncing off the lever and falling into the water.

The images of the spectacular fall went viral, as did the ironic explanations he gave. Janard was participating in a demonstration when he slipped off the diving board before falling backwards and into the water. Macron and the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who came to inaugurate the aquatic center of Olympic Games in Saint-Denisoutside of Paris, was watching.

“It’s time to laugh at me,” he commented on Instagram. “Well, it’s time. Everything is fine, I didn’t hurt myself. There’s a little blood but it’s not serious, it can’t be prevented from my training. I had a little weakness in my leg so I fell down. I fell on the front of the President of the Republic, I fell in front of all of France. This is a good time to laugh at me, because honestly, I deserve some credit,” he wrote.

The 26-year-old diver, who qualified for the Paris Olympics in the synchronized 3-meter event, later published a photo of his back with large scratches and traces of blood. Janard won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Swimming Championships.

In the Instagram story, he said that “unfortunately these things happen. It happened at a time when I didn’t expect it. I broke the boards before, but the board didn’t break me. Now there is. I’m More I would have liked this ceremony to have gone smoothly from start to finish. There was that little hiccup. If it brings a little smile, so much the better.”