Rio Olympics: Japanese pole vaulter denies that his penis was the reason he was eliminated him (VIDEO)

Hiroki Ogita 

A video of the athlete hitting the bar with what looked to some like his penis under his shorts quickly spread online.


His leg had already made contact with the bar but his arm finished the job.

"I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this," the 28-year-old athlete tweeted.
"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."

Despite the athlete's dismay, he encouraged his readers to take an active interest in the sport.

"To be honest, it's pretty rough, but I guess I'm in the spotlight so this might be some kind of opportunity. I'll do my best and get the results so that I get the last laugh," he wrote.

"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."

He eventually tweeted that he was able to see the funny side: "Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL."