Featured Image Credit: Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages
Topics: Michael Jackson, Music, Olympics, Social Media, Sport, Twitter, Ukraine, Viral
Tom Earnshaw
Topics: Michael Jackson, Music, Olympics, Social Media, Sport, Twitter, Ukraine, Viral
Viewers watching the rhythmic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics have been left wowed after one routine left them saying they've 'never seen anything like it before'.
Taking place on Thursday (8 August) in the Adidas Arena, the women's rhythmic individual all-around competition got under way with its qualification stage ahead of Friday's final.
With four routines to complete for each gymnast, every athlete is tasked with producing their best performances with the ball, hoop, clubs, and ribbon. The score are then added up to create a final total.
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The routine that left viewers wowed was during the hoop round, with those watching on left in amazement at what was produced by Ukraine's Taisiia Onofriichuk.
Aged just 16, the Ukrainian produced a piece of floor work to the beat of Michael Jackson's epic hit 'Thriller'.
The routine saw her use the entire floor space to performance with the hoop, seamlessly spinning it around her body and up and over her limbs.
Onofriichuk also threw the hoop up to nine metres in the air, blindly catching it with feet and legs on multiple occasions.
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It even saw Onofriichuk incorporate classic dance moves from the 'Thriller' music video, mostly from the iconic zombie dance scene.
The routine ended with Onofriichuk throwing the hoop metres up in to the sky before bouncing it off her back and in to her hands for a perfect finish that lined up with the end of the music.
Over on X, one viewer said: "The 'Thriller' performance at the Olympics is absolutely mesmerising! Combining rhythmic gymnastics with such iconic music is next-level creativity."
Another wrote: "WOW! She is spectacular! I've never seen anything like this! Let's go Ukraine."
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And a third posted: "The way the entire crowd claps to the beat for her. She is such a natural performer."
You have to see it to believe the words being said as it is genuinely brilliant:
Onofriichuk made it to the final of the rhythmic gymnastics event, scoring 34.250 in the hoop event and finishing fourth overall. This was after months of uncertainty surrounding if she'd even make it to the Paris Games in the first place.
"We didn't know if we would even get here, because during the last attack before we left, we thought we wouldn't survive," Iryna Blokhina said, referencing the ongoing Russian invasion of her homeland.
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Speaking to Reuters, Onofriichuk said: "This moment means a lot more to me than people can imagine.
"I felt calm inside... I'm incredibly proud to be representing Ukraine right now, especially during war and the conditions that we're training in, under bombs and under daily attacks."
The 21-year-old French pole vaulter attempted to clear the 5.70 metres on 3 August when his knee - along with his private parts - got in the way, shattering his Olympic dreams.
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Turkey's Yusuf Dikec took a laid back approach when he was spotted looking incredibly relaxed with one hand in his pocket and without any shooting gear on.
It all paid off though as he took home the silver along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.
Setting a new personal best, Lyles came out on top at the finish line by a margin of just 0.005 seconds, with a final time of 9.784.
The final also marked the fastest race of all time, with all eight athletes crossing the finish line in under 10 seconds.
Chaos erupted when a total of five athletes found themselves face down on the track after an incident left several runners stumbling on top of each other, including Team GB's George Mills and French runner Hugo Hay.
Mills looked as though he had some harsh words for Hay after the tumble which he admitted he was 'probably not allowed to say'.
Snoop went viral after he rocked up to the dressage team Grand Prix Special fully kitted out in breeches, a dressage tailcoat and hard hat alongside pal Martha Stewart. Iconic.
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Ana Carolina Vieira was sent home after she and her boyfriend Gabriel Santos - also a swimmer competing in the Olympics - left the village without permission, which is against the Olympic Village rules.
Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history when he won bronze at the women's crews event off the back of his bronze win in Tokyo on the men's team.
Fieldman was able to achieve the feat because of a rule change back in 2017 that allows coxes of either gender to steer the eights.
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While Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk vomited after swimming in the river, Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen admitted she 'felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much'.
It came after health concerns were raised over the pollution levels in the river, with the country splashing out a cool £1.18 billion on cleaning it up in time for the games.
The Team USA star purposely put on a leisurely performance in his first heat of the Men's 110m hurdles and ended up being the last one to make it across the finish line with a time of 18.27 seconds.
The athlete said it was a calculated move to avoid aggravating a sore muscle in his leg and due to the introduction of repechage rounds, he knew that he'd have another chance at glory.
The pool at the Paris La Défense Arena is 2.15 metres deep which is short of the minimum of 2.5 metres that World Aquatics recommends for an Olympic competition, prompting backlash from viewers.
As a result of the difference in depth, an issue called 'slow' swimming is created where the water is more volatile when dispersed than in a deeper pool.
The Algerian boxer faced Italy's Angela Carini in the round of 16 match on 1 August when Carini - who has since apologised - decided to abandon the match after 46 seconds.
Khelif - who was born and raised a girl - was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi amid claims from the International Boxing Association that she was not able to meet their unspecified eligibility criteria.
Khelif has since been at the centre of a gender row, and has urged people to 'refrain from bullying all athletes' amid abuse online.
The Paraguayan swimmer was said to have been asked to leave the village amid accusations of creating an 'inappropriate environment', according to a statement from her team.
Alonso - who also announced her retirement from the sport - has since denied the claims and urged people to 'stop spreading false information'.
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The athlete, who won gold in the men's 100m backstroke, was spotted taking a nap outside by Saudi rower Husein Alireza who posted it to his Instagram account, tagging the spot as a location within the official Olympic Village.
Speaking about his accommodation, Ceccon said: "It's hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Usually, when I'm at home, I always sleep in the afternoon. Here I really struggle between the heat and the noise."
The convicted child rapist was booed as he competed in the preliminary phase of the beach volleyball men’s tournament at the start of the games last month.
In 2016, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old girl in August 2014, with many furious that he has been allowed to compete in the Olympics.