Olympic Athletes Sure Love Anime

Within the title of the Moon, Crew Uzbekistan will do gymnastics.

With the closing ceremony wrapping up this night in Japan, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have drawn to a detailed. Like at earlier Olympics, there have been winners, losers, and upsets. However not like different ones, the Tokyo Video games had extra anime references than ever.

Beforehand, Kotaku featured Miltiadis Tentoglou, who did a pose from One Piece earlier than profitable gold within the Males’s Lengthy Soar. He was hardly alone. Different athletes additionally acquired in on the act, making nods to beloved franchises earlier than, throughout, and after competitions.

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Let’s check out extra Olympians exhibiting their love for manga and anime.

American shot putter Payton Otterdahl, for instance, made one other One Piece homage, doing Franky’s “Tremendous” pose (and even stated “Tremendous” as he did it!).

The official One Piece workers Twitter despatched the finalist a nice congratulatory note, writing, “We sincerely have fun the actions of our ‘NAKAMA’ all over the world with the utmost respect to your efforts and achievements.”

On the Tokyo Olympics, Lyles ran the 200m with a time of 19.74 seconds.

After profitable bronze within the Males’s 200m, Crew USA’s Noah Lyles celebrated with a Kamehameha. On Instagram, Lyles confirmed that it’s, actually, a Kamehameha and not a Road Fighter Hadouken. (China’s 400m Males’s Relay Crew likewise did what was both a Kamehameha or Hadouken pose earlier than their competitors.)

Crew Italy, in the meantime, additionally looks as if massive Dragon Ball followers.

Mexican gymnast Alexa Moreno did her flooring routine to the Demon Slayer soundtrack.

Alexa Moreno additionally competed within the Ladies’s Vault Finals, making her the second Mexican lady gymnast to succeed in the finals.

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It’s not unusual for anime music (or online game music, for that matter) for use in routines or sporting occasions, however since that is Moreno’s final Olympics, the selection makes it additional particular.

Crew Uzbekistan has been sporting these Sailor Moon fashion outfits in competitions main as much as the Olympics.

Determine skater Evgenia Medvedeva already proved that Sailor Moon works effectively with ice skating, and this 12 months Crew Uzbekistan confirmed how effectively it goes with rhythmic gymnastics.

These weren’t the one references (extra here and here), with Assault on Titan and Jojo’s Weird Journey additionally getting the inevitable shoutouts. This was inevitable! Apart from the very fact the Olympics have been held in Japan, manga and anime characters appeared on official merchandise. Plus, liking anime and manga has gone mainstream internationally.

Contemplating how anime and manga are particularly in style in France, don’t be stunned if poses like these turn into a typical on the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Whereas anime nods have been in no scarcity, video video games actually weren’t forgotten. The Tokyo Video games impressed an Olympic-themed JRPG Google Doodle, and the opening ceremony was packed with online game music.