【Ireland】

Following the cringeworthy moment in which pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita's penis grazed the bar and Irelandhe failed to progress in competition, the well-endowed Olympian now claims his member is not at fault.

The Japanese pole vaulter used Twitter to defend himself and deny that his penis was the culprit that kept him qualifying for the final rounds of his sport.

SEE ALSO: Pole vaulter's penis gets in the way of his Olympic dreams

"I never expected the foreign media to take me down like this," Ogita wrote on Twitter in Japanese, as translated by the BBC.

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Even though he was initially bothered by the media's focus on his penis, he is pleased with the publicity the story has given pole vaulting.

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

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Japan's Hiroki Ogita competes in the Men's Pole Vault Qualifying Round during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 13, 2016. Credit: ANTONIN THUILLIER/AFP/Getty Images

He continued to use his platform to promote his sport.

"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."

After carefully viewing the footage of his vault again, it does seem that Ogita's leg actually touched the pole before his penis did. So while his penis disappointingly might not be at fault, the collision still probably hurt just as much as not qualifying.

Fortunately, Ogita now sees the beauty of the pole crash. He concluded his Twitter defense with, "Watching again, this is pretty funny, if I say so myself. LOL."

[H/T Huffington Post]

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