Injury On The 2004 Olympic Vault Finals
The men's vault finals of the 2004 Olympics was held on August 23, 2004, Bondarenko's 26th birthday. He entered the competition as the reigning Olympic silver medalist and was expected to be a medal contender.
As the first competitor on the vault, Bondarenko fell on his landing after the first vault, a Tsukahara double pike, and was clearly in pain after the attempt. On his second vault, a double front half twist, he landed on his side. Afterwards, he was in severe pain and was seen receiving medical treatment for what appeared to be serious injuries. He was carried off the stadium on a stretcher.
NBC was criticized for not giving any coverage of Bondarenko's injury, and not even broadcasting Bondarenko's vaults. Instead of beginning the broadcast with Bondarenko's attempts, NBC went on to broadcast China's Li Xiaopeng's attempts and then showing the attempts of the three eventual medalists, who were Latvia's Yevgeny Sapronenko (the silver medalist), Spain's Gervasio Deferr (the reigning 2000 Olympic gold medalist and the eventual gold medalist of the competition, and Romania's Marian Drăgulescu (the bronze medalist). It was said that not only did NBC not show the Russian's two falls, viewers were not given any kind of indication that they had happened, and that at no point did the network's gymnastics commentators or studio hosts say that Bondarenko had been injured and taken to the hospital.
Bondarenko's attempts however, were covered in other broadcasts, including the Australian broadcast covered by Simon Reeve and Liz Chetkovich.
Read more about this topic: Alexei Bondarenko
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