‘Dismay’: Athlete breaks down over rare tactical disaster
An athlete was left in tears and visibly shaking in a heartbreaking scene that some believe was inappropriate for television.
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American heptathlete Chari Hawkins was shell-shocked in heartbreaking scenes when learning she had failed to put down a score in the high jump event on Thursday night.
The result all but crushed her medal chances on the spot.
The social media star was rocked to her core after her rare tactical blunder of skipping all the earlier heights in the event backfired spectacularly.
The 33-year-old lists the high jump as one of her stronger events in the competition and went into the leg after a strong performance in the 100m hurdles.
Hawkins skipped all the earlier heights, which began at 1.56m before the bar was raised in 3cm increments.
Hawkins’ saved her three failed-attempt lifelines for when the bar was getting raised towards its top level - and had not jumped before the bar was at 1.71m.
It appeared she had somehow forgotten that she’d earlier elected not to record a score - and it was a crushing moment when she realised she was the only athlete in the event that failed to record a score.
She broke down in tears and her hands were visibly shaking as she held them to her face when it all started to sink in.
Hawkins was seen being consoled by her coach when speaking at the fence of the grandstand.
It was difficult to watch and it forced some viewers to turn away from their TV screens.
TV viewers from around the world questioned whether the distressing footage should have been broadcast.
One Twitter user wrote: “I get that the camera men want to capture major moments at the Olympics but there’s something so sinister about keeping the camera on Chari Hawkins as she found out that news the entire time,” a fan wrote.
The TV commentator on Eurosport said Hawkins was in “absolutely shock and dismay”.
She eventually recovered and spoke to reporters after the event, saying: “Oh my gosh. I don’t even know what to do. I’m like literally so shocked right now,” she said.
To make matters worse, she will be required to return to action on Friday when the competition moved onto its final events.
She came agonisingly close with her final jump and cleared the bar, only for her feet to graze the top of the fickle bar.
Hawkins is a former Utah State track star and has a huge social media following of more than one million people on Instagram.
After the two opening events of the heptathlon, reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson led with 2,197 points.
The Briton clocked 13.40sec in the hurdles and a best of 1.92m in the high jump. Belgium’s two-time defending Olympic champion Nafi Thiam, who missed last year’s world champs through injury, was in second on 2,173pts.
American Anna Hall, the world silver medallist, was in third, just nine points adrift.
The evening session see the heptathletes compete in the shot put and 200m. Friday sees them in action in the long jump and javelin in the morning before wrapping up the two-day, seven-discipline event with the 800m at the Stade de France.
— with AFP
Originally published as ‘Dismay’: Athlete breaks down over rare tactical disaster
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