Opinion: After gruesome injury in Rio, French gymnast Samir Ait Said shows the power of the Olympics
TOKYO -- Samir Ait Said carries a soft, grey blanket with a stuffed elephant in the corner that belongs to his infant daughter, and wears a gold necklace in memory of his late father.
These are the reminders the French gymnast is carrying with him in Tokyo, rather than the memory of that gruesome injury at the Rio Olympics that horrified anyone who saw or heard it.
“When I arrived here, I had some flashbacks from Rio. But then I realized I have to go forward,” Ait Said said Saturday, after qualifying for the still rings final. “I gave everything I had, thinking about my family, especially my father. I will give everything I have to have a gold medal. At least a medal.”
Lost in the growing number of COVID cases among athletes, the ballooning cost of the Games and the question of whether they should even be happening are the reasons the Olympics have endured for 125 years: The athletes and their stories.
Mostly it is their otherworldly athletic triumphs, the gold medals they win and the records they set. But sometimes it is their simple humanity, the disappointments they endure and the tragedies they must overcome.
In Rio, Ait Said’s left leg snapped on his vault landing during qualifying, the sharp crack echoing throughout the arena. As he rolled over, clutching his leg just below the knee, his foot and the lower half of his shin dangled in the opposite direction of the rest of his leg.
It was not the first time his Olympic dreams had been disrupted by injury. He missed the London Games after suffering three fractures in his right tibia at the European championships. But this was a particularly gruesome injury, one that has ended the career of other athletes.
Even as he lay in a Brazilian hospital, his leg immobilized, Ait Said vowed that he would return for Tokyo.
Agonizing as Ait Said’s injury was, it paled in comparison to the 2019 death of his father, who had always been his biggest champion. When Ait Said qualified for Tokyo by winning the bronze medal on still rings at the 2019 world championships, he lifted his medal to the sky to acknowledge his father, and promised that he would win another in Tokyo for him.
Ait Said’s performance on still rings Saturday was smooth, showing both his strength and his precision. He moved slowly from one position to another, the cables barely moving. He did not sway or shake when he held his positions as so many gymnasts do.
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When he landed his dismount, Ait Said broke into a wide grin.
“I’m very happy and very emotional, also. It was very, very hard the last five years,” he said. “I had a problem with my leg, the injury. I’m also thinking about my father, who died two years ago. He should have been here with me.”
But bittersweet as this moment is, it is also a powerful reminder of just how resilient the human spirit is.
A few days ago, Ait Said got a phone call from the president of France’s Olympic committee. He had been chosen to be the team’s flag bearer, she told him.
“I said what? Me? What? Why?” Ait Said said, laughing. “Are you sure it’s not the wrong number?”
It was not.
Flag bearers are chosen for a variety of reasons, but often it is because their fellow athletes see in them the embodiment of the Olympic ideals. Determination. Perseverance. Strength. Ait Said is all those things.
Ait Said waved the flag proudly as he led the French team into the Olympic Stadium on Friday night. When the entire team was inside, he handed the flag to his fellow flag bearer and walked a few steps ahead before turning and doing a backflip.
The other French athletes yelled as they waved small flags and jumped up and down.
“I’m very proud because I am the first gymnast in (France’s) history” to be the flag bearer, Ait Said said.
And he is proud, too, of how far he has come. He is more than someone in a video that was viewed millions of times, more than just that French gymnast who broke his leg at the Olympics.
He is resilient, driven not to erase the memories of that horrible injury but to make new ones for his daughter and in honor of his father.
“I wanted to show the world that in life, it’s not so easy. You really have to fight to go for your goals,” Ait Said said. “You still have to fight even if you have small problems. You still have to go and work for it.”
Bad news has overshadowed the Tokyo Games and, unfortunately, will likely continue to do so. But look closely, and you will find stories of hope and inspiration.
Stories that make the Olympics the wonderful event that it is.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympics' power displayed by French gymnast who broke leg in Rio Games
