Pole vaulter denies penis caused him to miss jump

In one of the more ridiculous Olympic stories so far, a Japanese pole vaulter has fired back at those suggesting his genitals caused him to fail to advance in his event.

Video of Hiroki Ogita knocking the bar down in the pole vault seemed to show that it was something inside his shorts - ostensibly his penis - that brushed against the bar and dislodged it.

As you'd expect, many social media users and websites had a field day with this.

"I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this," Ogita responded on Twitter, according to the BBC.

"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."

The BBC consulted a pole vault expert, who suggested it was merely an unfortunate fold of fabric in Ogita's shirt that hit the bar, not a body part.

Ogita eventually seemed to appreciate why so many found his failure humorous, tweeting, "Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL."