2024 Olympics Moments That Went Viral For All The Wrong Reasons
An unfounded conspiracy theory, an athlete poking fun at herself, and a pole vault fail no one saw coming. Here are the 2024 Olympic moments that went viral for all the wrong reasons.
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00:00An unfounded conspiracy theory, an athlete poking fun at herself, and a pole vault fail
00:05no one saw coming, here are the 2024 Olympic moments that went viral for all the wrong
00:11reasons.
00:12Right from the start, the 2024 Games in Paris made a splash with its opening ceremony.
00:17With the goal of thinking creatively and revolutionizing the Games yet remaining accessible to a large
00:22audience per the Olympics website, the effort saw drag queens and trans people featured
00:26prominently in parts of the opening ceremonies.
00:28However, one performance in particular was thought by some to denigrate Christianity.
00:33Conservatives saw the performance as insulting to Christians because drag queens, trans,
00:37and gay people were placed in ways that were erroneously perceived to mock the disciples
00:41and Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper.
00:46Olympics artistic director Thomas Jolly denied the accusation, telling news channel BFM-TV
00:51his intention was to pay homage to the Greek god Dionysus.
00:54He also added,
00:55"...you will never find in me or in my work a desire to mock or denigrate anyone."
01:01In something of a running theme in moments gone viral for the wrong reasons, Algerian
01:05boxer Iman Khalif was called out by prominent conservatives who accused her of being male.
01:10The 5'10'' boxer began her boxing career circa 2016 and has always competed as a woman.
01:16According to Khalif and her father, she was born female and was raised female, never identifying
01:20as anything else.
01:22She competed in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but the accusation arose from a competition
01:26in 2023 when Khalif was disqualified from the World Boxing Championships after the president
01:31of the Russian International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, said that DNA tests proved she
01:36had XY chromosomes.
01:38According to NBC New York, there was never any proof beyond the claims of Kremlev, who
01:42shared this news after Khalif had beaten Russian boxer Azalea Amineva, effectively taking the
01:47win from Khalif.
01:48As far as the International Olympic Committee is concerned, neither the IBA nor its tests
01:53are legitimate.
01:54IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in a press conference,
01:57"...the current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary
02:02decision which was taken without any proper procedure."
02:06Anthony Amorati most likely meant to put it all on the table when it came to the competition,
02:11but he might have shown the world a bit more than he meant.
02:13His effort in a pole vault qualifying competition, in which he was trying to clear a height of
02:175.70 meters, was botched by his crotch as he began his descension back toward the ground.
02:23The early effort looked great.
02:24He cleared the bar, but wasn't far enough away from it, and of all things, he managed
02:28to clip the bar with the bulge under his leotard.
02:30The incident was unmistakable before Amorati landed on his back on the padding below.
02:35At least Amorati understands the humor behind what happened, saying,
02:38"...you make more buzz for your package than for your performances."
02:42There is something to be said about doing one thing and doing it very well.
02:46Case in point, Olympic gymnast Steven Nedorosik, who went viral not only for his nearly flawless
02:51pommel horse event, for which he won the bronze and the first Olympic medal for the men's
02:55team USA in 16 years, but also for his unabashed nerdiness.
02:59Nedorosik was only slated for the pommel horse competition, so he had a lot of time on the
03:03sidelines while his teammates competed in the other events.
03:07During that time, people took notice.
03:09The bespectacled gymnast passed the time by solving his Rubik's Cube and taking catnaps.
03:13But when he took off his glasses and walked up to the podium, the internet was feeling
03:16Clark Kent vibes.
03:18Then, Nedorosik crushed it.
03:20Most unbelievably, the gamer with an electrical engineering degree from Penn State actually
03:24squinted his way to the pommel horse.
03:27According to the BBC, he has strabismus, the condition that causes crossed eyes, which
03:31makes him have double vision.
03:33Nedorosik described himself as, quote,
03:35"...just a regular dude who happens to be really good at pommel horse."
03:39It feels incredible.
03:40I mean, we had a mission going out there to get that team medal.
03:43That second medal I got was for myself, it was for fun.
03:46Italian swimmer Thomas Chacon had a viral moment, but unfortunately, it wasn't for winning
03:51anything.
03:52However, it did bring more awareness to the experimental way France is housing the Olympic
03:56athletes.
03:57Chacon was spotted sleeping on the ground in a park near a bench inside the Olympic
04:00Village.
04:01He later said he was napping that afternoon because he's had trouble sleeping in the accommodations
04:05provided for the athletes, which lack air conditioning and include cardboard beds.
04:10According to Today, Chacon said in an interview with Rai,
04:13Yes, unfortunately, many are leaving because one eats badly, it's hot, there's no air conditioning.
04:18Therefore, from different aspects, it's so-so.
04:21I'm not complaining because everyone has the same conditions.
04:24I'm only telling those who don't know.
04:26Paris' efforts for the Olympic Village are meant to be used as sustainable housing units
04:30after the athletes leave, and as such, they are not using standard air conditioning.
04:34But the experimental construction doesn't appear to be working very well, so the apartments
04:38are being furnished with cooling units.
04:42Team USA gymnast Suni Lee posted a video of herself on TikTok as she fell off the balance
04:46beam during the women's balance beam final on August 5th.
04:49Taking the opportunity to be self-deprecating, she captioned the video with,
04:53Unfortunately, I was selected for the Olympics.
04:56Lee is an accomplished gymnast who competed in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, winning the gold
05:00for women's all-around and the bronze for the uneven bars competition.
05:03The women's team took the silver that year.
05:05Still, her spill reminds us that everyone makes mistakes, and the best course of action
05:09sometimes is to have a sense of humor about it.