Hoping to vault a height of 5.35 metres, the Cuban made his approach normally and planted his pole. It seemed the fibreglass apparatus could not withstand the pressure and snapped into three pieces.
Borges, 26, escaped from the incident uninjured but the accident may have shaken him. The 2011 World Championship silver medallist didn’t place high enough to make the final.
The incident was similar to the one that felled British great Daley Thompson during the decathlon at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, according to media reports. But in that incident, Thompson suffered an injury to his adductor muscle while Borges escaped unscathed.
