A moment of hilarity at the Paris Olympics 2024 swimming pool on Sunday has prompted fans to call for one man to receive a gold medal.
The incident occurred during a brief pause in the preliminary heats of the 100m women’s breaststroke event. The competition had to be momentarily halted due to an object spotted at the bottom of the pool that turned out to be a swimming cap.
It is believed to have fallen off the head of Team USA’s Emma Weber. However, it needed to be retrieved and this task fell to a brave volunteer sporting a pair of eye-catching trunks.
The crowd at the Paris La Defense Arena erupted into cheers and whistles as the “middle-aged” man, as described by witnesses on social media, strutted to the poolside.
He was in and out of the water in less than 20 seconds, earning more applause as he waved to the spectators in the stands. Footage of his moment in the spotlight quickly went viral on X, with many hailing him as a “hero”.
On person asked: “Where’s his gold medal, may I ask?!”
One viewer quipped: “The crowd cheers as a middle-aged man disrobes to just a speedo and dives in to recover the cap. Words I thought I would not tweet this morning”.
Another said: “Some guy in a Speedo just jumped into an Olympic pool to retrieve a swimmer’s cap from the bottom of the pool. I want that job is 2028 @Olympics”.
Many seemed to believe that the ‘Speedo hero’ was an Olympic lifeguard, although it’s understood this wasn’t the case. A comment on Reddit read: “The first time in history a lifeguard at the Olympics got something to do!”
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