Japanese pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita speaks out on ‘penis’ incident

YOU have to feel for him. A simple pole vault turned into a balls up after his penis got in the way. But Hiroki Ogita isn’t laughing.

Japan’s Hiroki Ogita competes in the Men’s Pole Vault qualifying round during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Picture: Patrick Fife

IT’S A hard life.

Suffering a major balls up at the Olympics is never a great feeling. But top that off with worldwide embarrassment and everyone talking about your penis and it’s no wonder Hiroki Ogita isn’t taking things so well.

The Japanese pole vaulter made headlines around the world after his penis apparently caused him to foul during the qualifying rounds in the men’s event in Rio.

The incident made him a viral star, but he still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.

“I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this,” he tweeted, according to a BBC translation.

“It’s one thing if it was true, but I have to say I’m pretty devastated that they’d go so far to make something up to mock and ridicule me so much.”

Ogita was attempting to clear a height of 5.3 metres in group A of the first round of the pole vault on Tuesday when things took a turn for the worse.

As his leg came in contact with the bar, the vaulter began to drop back down towards the ground before his shin grazed the bar.

Video footage then showed the unsteady bar coming into contact with his penis, with the vaulter’s arm collecting the bar as it fell.

Despite clearing the height on his second attempt, he was only able to make a height of 5.45 metres with his last jump, which left him in 21st place.

The athlete received a lot of online support following the incident, but the 28-year-old was still taking things hard.

hiroki ogita deserves a second chance let him do the jump again i feel bad for him

— isa (@nodeofscherzo) August 17, 2016

And it seemed he was sorer about the ensuing media attention than getting knocked out of the competition.

“To be honest, it’s pretty rough, but I guess I’m in the spotlight so this might be some kind of opportunity,” he later tweeted.

“I’ll do my best and get the results so that I get the last laugh. It doesn’t matter if you do it for a joke or whatever, I ask you to go and watch an actual game at a stadium for once. I hope you appreciate, even a bit, what a great sport pole vaulting is.”

The vaulter even changed his Twitter handle to try and avoid the online attention, losing his verification tick in the process.

Ogita may have lost his place in the final and therefore ended his Rio campaign but he at least was laughing about it now, sort of.

“Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself,” he tweeted “LOL.”

His now infamous jump is still delighting social media days later.

If you want to get ahead at #Rio2016 - bring your own pole #HirokiOgita pic.twitter.com/XTj7NWDWAi

— Julian and Sandy (@BonaTweetette) August 17, 2016

#Hirokiogita blames #YelenaIsinbayeva poster in the crowd for his failed attempt.
"Japanese penis no ready for these things yet" he declares

— Santiago Romero (@romeroressendi) August 17, 2016

Other Twitter users were urging him to keep seeing the funny side of things.

Hiroki Ogita won't leave Rio with a gold medal, but now whenever you Google his name, the top result will be about how big his dick is. #win

— Seth Joseph (@TheSethJoseph) August 17, 2016

Dear, Hiroki Ogita. If your knob knocks you out of a pole vault competition and the media reports it, take it as a compliment.

— Olly (@Not_Olly) August 17, 2016