It was clearly a slip up and poor Stephan Feck suffered for it, both physically and emotionally.

When the German diver and hopeful Olympic medalist jumped off the end of the board in the 3m springboard competition, it was merely nano-seconds before the crowd knew that he was going to land on his back. His left leg slipped out of his grip and sent him into an awkward spin. That threw off his dive completely and landed him flat on his back as he hit the water.

My heart goes out to this athlete. His backflop off the board has already hit the web with a vengeance, both on YouTube and most of the blogs, making him an Internet sensation.

The mishap apparently drew no sympathy from the judges, who unanimously scored him across-the-board zeroes for the performance. It’s almost impossible for all the judges in Olympic competitions to agree. It happens rarely. Just ask Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast who scored a perfect 10 from judges in 1980.

To see the video clip, click here.