You know how there are some bar games that you get a lot better at the drunker you are?   I don’t know about you, but I’m a much better darts player when I’ve had a few beers in me.   It’s as though I’m in a zone.   A drunken, blurry, laser-guided dart-throwing zone.   I don’t know why it works out that way, but it does.   Well, while drinking and darts tend to mix well, there are some sports where it’s just not recommended.

Let’s take high-jumping as an example.   Sure, taking five or six shots of vodka before your jump might make you think you can jump clear over a mountain, but in reality, it doesn’t work that way.  That may seem like common sense, but it’s something Russian high-jumper Ivan Ukhov had to learn the hard way.

From the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

The young high jumper was told by officials to pull out of the competition because he was drunk. The Russian athletics federation will discuss his case later this month, and he could face a one-year ban.

Ukhov, who has an indoor best of 2.39 metres, has reimbursed the meeting organisers and apologised. His manager, Pavel Voronkov, said: “There’s no denying that Ivan was drunk, but he had a fight with his girlfriend and was also upset at failing to qualify for the Olympics.

“Obviously, Ivan regrets it very much and we have already reimbursed the organisers … He is still young and it should be a good lesson for him, but a year ban would destroy him as an athlete.”

Well, while a year ban my destroy him as an athlete, it would no doubt save his liver.   What makes this story even better?   Why the video of course.

Thank God for the internet.