PARIS, France — University of Georgia's decathlon athlete Karel Tilga did not medal but showed perseverance through a tough moment on Saturday.
The decathlon athlete competed in several decathlon events, including the 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and the 1500m.
On Saturday, one of his pole vault events caused Olympic spectators to sour over one of his failed attempts.
Tilga, who competes for Estonia, started his run off a little short as soon as he went for the jump he missed his angle of attack, which is the moment the pole hits the ground, and did not go over the cross bar.
The 26-year-old climbed back down the pole, but it bent back. He couldn't break his fall, and he landed straight on his back on the track. He never made it to the pit, the padded area where athletes land safely.
View a video from an X user who posted the failed attempt to the platform:
Tilga made light of the situation when he took to his Instagram story that has since expired, where he reposted a video of his failed attempt. He jokingly said, "DM me for pv (pole vault) coaching. Here's my resume," with the failed attempt under the video.
On Saturday, the 26-year-old competed amongst UGA assistant track coach Janek Oiglane and UGA graduate Johannes Erm.
Tilga's results in the Paris Games
110m Hurdles: Tilga finished 18th overall in the 110m hurdles with a 14.66-second result, reaching his season best.
Discus Throw: He then placed No. 3 overall in the discus throw with a result of 5.13, reaching his seasonal best.
Pole Vault: In the pole vault, Tilga finished 14th overall with a 4.70 season-best result. In the javelin throw, he finished seventh overall.
1500m: In the 1500m, he did not medal but ranked seventh with a 4:26.41 result.
Overall: He finished 11th in the men's decathlon.
More about Karel Tilga (decathlon) - Online bio
Georgia Connection: UGA alum; Country: Estonia
More about this athlete: Tilga, 26, looks ahead to Paris after finishing fourth last year in the decathlon at the World Championships.
He will be aiming to improve on his first Olympic showing in Tokyo, where he was 20th.
At UGA, he was the 2021 NCAA champion in the decathlon.
More about pole vault
Pole vault pole length
Pole vault poles can range between 10 feet and 17 feet and have different weight ratings.
What are pole vault poles made of?
Solid ash and bamboo poles were very common back then, but modern poles have pre-cut fiberglass sheets that contain resin around a metal pole. Different fiber types help with higher jumps.
How does pole vault scoring work?
Pole vault is similar to the high jump but uses a pole to launch athletes over a high crossbar. Athletes rely on a flexible pole to get them over instead of their own feet.
Athletes clear different heights based on how high the crossbar is. Athletes have three attempts to clear the height; if they don't in three attempts, they are out of the competition completely.
Judges measure how high athletes jump over that particular bar. If athletes jump a little extra over the bar, that will get added to the bar's height.
How heavy is a pole vault?
This really depends on the weight of each athlete since it's sort of made to carry the athlete's weight.
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