Canadian Olympic gymnast suffers pair of brutal falls in final

Jul 31 2024, 6:09 pm

Canadian Olympic gymnast Felix Dolci will likely never forget the Men’s Individual All-Around Final at the Paris 2024 Games.

But while he got quite the roar from the crowd on Wednesday while competing at a packed house in the Bercy Arena in downtown Paris, Dolci probably would rather not think about the reason for his big cheers.

One of 24 competitors in the medal event, Dolci was in the horizontal bar portion of the final when his hand grip fell off, causing him to crash to the mat in the middle of a rotation.

After getting up, Dolci then saluted the crowd with a heart symbol made by his hands as a thank you for the show of support.

Dolci went around for a second attempt at the apparatus, but crashed to the floor once again.

Dolci finished the event with scores of 11.733 while also putting up points at press time in the floor exercise (14.366), pommel horse (12.533),  rings (13.766), vault (14.366) and parallel bars (14.333), finishing 20th overall.

Rene Cournoyer also competed for Canada in the same event, also putting up scores in
floor exercise (13.600), pommel horse (13.100), rings (13.700), vault 13.733, parallel bars (14.300) and the horizontal bar (13.300), to finish 17th.

How have other Olympic gymnasts been doing for Canada?

In the men’s all-around team final on Monday, Canada finished eighth with a score of 245.426. That team consisted of Dolci, René Cournoyer, Zachary Clay, William Émard, and Samuel Zakutney. It was the second-best finish ever by the Canadian men, who finished seventh in 1984.

In the women’s artistic team final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Canada finished in fifth place, with a score of 162.432, finishing behind the United States, Italy, Brazil, and Great Britain. The mark tied Canada’s best-ever result on the women’s side in the event, equalling their efforts in 1984 and 2012.

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