President Joe Biden fell on stage during the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony Thursday at Falcon Stadium.

Biden, 80, received aid from Secret Service agents and stood back up quickly. When the president was back up and standing he pointed to a black sandbag where he had stumbled and fell, then walked off of the stage on his own power.

Biden announced in April that he will be seeking a second term in 2024 as president. He is the oldest U.S. president in history.

The president fell forward, caught himself with his hands, then got up on one knee helped up after he’d finished shaking hands with graduates. He walked back to his seat unassisted.

After Biden was helped up, he pointed behind him, seeming to indicate what he tripped over. He mingled with other officials afterward, smiling and giving a “thumbs up” sign.

White House communications director Ben LaBolt tweeted that Biden was “fine.” “There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands,” he explained.

Biden has been dogged by questions about his age and his fitness to serve, and his missteps have become fodder for political rivals as he campaigns for a second term in 2024. He has stumbled before going up the stairs and onto Air Force One and he once got caught up in his bike pedals while stopping to talk to reporters near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Biden’s personal doctor said after the president’s most recent physical exam in February that Biden “remains a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” Dr. Kevin O’Connor also documented the president’s stiffened gait, which O’Connor said was the result of spinal arthritis, a previously broken foot and neuropathy in the Biden’s feet.

Biden is far from the first national political figure to stumble in public.

President Gerald Ford fell down while walking off Air Force One in 1975. GOP Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the GOP presidential nominee at the time, fell off the stage at a campaign rally in 1996. President Barack Obama tripped walking up the stairs to a stage at a 2012 event. “I was so fired up, I missed a stair” he told the crowd.

President Donald Trump’s gingerly walk down a ramp at the 2020 West Point commencement also sparked concerns about his health.

Washington Examiner, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

President Biden took a tumble Thursday, June 1, 2023, during the the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs. After shaking hands with hundreds of cadets from the class of 2023, Biden took a stumble while he was returning to his seat.

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