The Paris Olympics allow athletes to surpass themselves in their discipline, but not only that. Sometimes in spite of themselves, some have a reputation on social networks. Internet users, official accounts and even the athletes themselves have a field day.
5 min
This is also the magic of the Paris Olympics: whether it’s the French, the Japanese, the English or the Americans, they all compete in inventiveness to comment on the competitions in their own way via social networks. Even the French footballer Antoine Griezmann got his “HashMoji” on X with its now famous #AlerteMedaille.
- How can we miss French judoka Teddy Riner and his exploits this week, both in individual and team competitions? The very last torchbearer at the opening ceremony, with Marie-José Perec, became the only judoka to be a triple Olympic heavyweight championthis August 2nd. The next day, he created the feat, with his teammates from the French team, by beating the Japanese team, like three years ago in TokyoOne photo in particular inspired Internet users: during the quarter-final of the mixed team event, Teddy Riner emerged victorious from his fight against South Korean Lee Joo-hwan, who weighed around 60 kilos less than him!
- In the shooting events, the style of several athletes caught the attention of X network users. Like the South Korean shooter Yeji Kim silver medalist in the 10-meter air pistol who is the “coolest” athlete at the Olympics. She fascinated the X network (ex-Twitter) with her composure and backwards cap.
- As for the Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec, silver medalist in the 10m air pistol mixed team event on July 30, he surprised with his attitude a priori nonchalant. With one hand in his pocket, without eye patches or noise-canceling headphones, he has notably been compared to the fictional character of the hitman John Wick, played by the actor Keanu Reeves. He has also influenced the work of Japanese illustrators.
- We don’t need to introduce him anymore! The swimmer Léon Marchand has become a legend this week by winning not one but four gold medals: he broke the record on July 28 in the 400m medley, then the 200m butterfly on July 31, the 200m breaststroke two hours later and finally the 200m medley on August 2. If the “Merchant mania” has swept across France and beyond its borders, Twitter users couldn’t help but think that France has developed a laboratory that has created a superhuman being. As for his resemblance to superstar Kylian Mbappé, we’ll let you be the judge…
- And again Léon Marchand… During the 200m butterfly final, the Hungarian Kristof Milak, the big favourite, led the entire race, until these last decisive metres where he glanced at the water line to his left. The violence of Milak’s glance as he sees 4 years of preparation fly away “, we can read on X. The “cheetah”, the “human trout” and so many other qualifiers for Léon Marchand who goes back up at his level, doubles it and beats an Olympic record to boot. Who can beat that?
- Who said that cheese and sport were incompatible? At least not the Italian gymnastics team that took home silver on July 30th teams at women’s general artistic competitionbehind the Americans led by champion Simone BilesGymnast Giorgia Villa has gone viral on social media, thanks to her sponsor, which is none other than parmesan cheese.
- Although he unfortunately did not distinguish himself by his sporting prowess, Dutch swimmer Henrik Christiansen will leave Paris with the nickname “muffin man”. Coming to compete in the 800m and 1500m freestyle, he has accumulated thousands of views on his TikTok account with 117,000 subscribers, by posting funny videos in which he declares his love for the muffins of the Olympic village. Even the Games mascot, the Phryge, is a fan. !
- American gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik has a wealth of talents and nicknames. Nicknamed “pommel horse guy,” he won a bronze medal in the men’s pommel horse event on August 3, the only event he competed in. He is also known as Clark Kent – Superman in civilian clothes – because of his rectangular-framed glasses, unique to the comic book character. In a video published a few days ago on the TikTok account of the American Olympic team, we discover that he also excels at the Rubik’s Cube puzzle. Future Olympic event?
– American rugby player Ilona Maher, who won the bronze medal in rugby sevens on July 30, turned the Olympic village into a reality TV show with her parody of Love Island, in which the goal is to find love. The athlete with more than two million subscribers on TikTok and on Instagram, has become the most followed personality in the world of rugby. She had already made a name for herself during the previous Tokyo Games in 2021where she documented her daily life and that of her teammates, also accumulating millions of views.
Read alsoSpecial report on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: find all our articles, reports, podcasts and videos