At the age of social media, the Olympic Games are a fount of viral phenomena, whether there are breathtaking moments of sports or behind the scenes Shenanigans in the sports village.
Here are five Olympians who have made an unexpected splash on the world scene below Paris game. Not everyone has moved on to the podium of the medal winners, but at least everyone has the inheritance from a moment in social media the limelight.
Ilona Maher
Maher – who plays the Center for US Women’s Rugby Sevens Squad – “has the largest social media after any rugby player”, said Associated Pressby three million Instagram followers and two million on Tiktok.
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The 27-year-old first attracted on social media fame at the Tokyo games in 2020 for their behind the scenes of videos about life in the Olympic village, and she is back in Paris.
Fans love Maher’s body positivity and mood in the tongue, including an ongoing joke where the Olympic village is portrayed as a “Love Island” record for Maher and her teammates to find romance.
Kim Ye-Ji (with an honest mention for Yusuf Dikeç)
South Korea’s sniper Kim Y-Ji dropped on the gold medal in the 10-meter air pistol competition to teammate Ye Jin-Oh-but you would not know it from her everywhere on social media.
Kim’s “sci-fi shooting glasses and an icy setting” was an instant sensation online and turned her into a “breakout style star”, said GQ.
She was not the only viral star who came out of the discipline. When Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç went up to the mark for 10-meter air pistol mixture of the teams with ordinary glasses and a t-shirt and continued to win a silver medal with a hand in the pocket, the strong contrast with Kim’s futuristic goat-up did not go unnoticed The viewers. “No lens, no headphones, just vibes,” Eurosport wrote on X.
Henrik Christiansen
The Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen was not a favorite to win a medal in Paris, and his name would usually just be familiar with serious followers of the sport – if it wasn’t for a “love affair with chocolate muffins”, said Npr.
Christiansen has shared his obsession with the gooey chocolate cakes served in Olympic Village Food Hall in videos showing him “enjoy the sunset with a muffin in his hand (and on the face) and get stuck in bed next to a box full of pastries”.
Gag has since spread across the Olympic village. An assistant to the Belgium’s Olympic squad even Published a Tiktok Where he placed a muffin outside the Norwegian team’s headquarters as a victim offer to Christiansen, to the tribes in “Circle of Life”.
Stephen Nedoroscik
Stephen Nedoroscik arrived at the Paris Olympics as one of Team USA’s lesser -known gymnasts, but he will leave as the star in the show. The adapted, mildly urged Olympic newcomer caught the views of the viewers, and the intrigues around him were only increased by his participation in a single event: The Pommel Horse.
The 25-year-old’s appearance and behavior has earned him comparisons with Clark Kent and he actually seemed to undergo a Superman-Esque conversion as he swung on to the pommel horse and pulled off a slick routine to secure Team US bronze medal. Nedoroscik himself embraced the comparison and told NBC: “I’m a silly guy with the glasses on, but as soon as I take them, I’m locked up. I’m ready to go.”
Nothing Hafez
Most women who are seven months pregnant prioritize comfort, said The custodianBut Egyptian Fencer Nada Hafez “instead dressed an electrically conductive jacket, a saber and a mesh thread mask”.
Even more remarkably, she won her first match in the individual Saber competition at Paris Games and chose not to reveal her pregnancy until she was knocked out in the last 16 step. “What seems to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three!” She wrote on her Instagram.
