Olympic gold-winning swimmer questioned by fans about one small detail
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Sarah Stier/Xavier Lane
An Olympian who's won three medals at the Paris Olympics in the pool has been questioned by fans due to a potentially unfair advantage.
We may just be over a week into the festival of sport in France, but there's certainly been no shortage of talking points.
The opening ceremony caused a lot of controversy, while a lot of the talk in recent days has surrounded Imane Khelif, the boxer who previously failed a gender eligibility test.
Australia's Ariarne Titmus is another name making waves in Paris after bagging three medals in the swimming events.
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While the pool is typically dominated by the US at the Olympics, it's the athletes from down under who have been hugely impressed this time around.
Australia have won 13 medals in the swimming so far, including an impressive seven golds.
Titmus is one of those who has contributed to the massive success, with Paris being her second Olympics.
She won two golds, a silver and a bronze at Tokyo 2020 and has continued that fine form in Paris.
The 23-year-old has retained her crown in the 400m freestyle and also in the 4x200m freestyle, while also replicating the silver she won in Tokyo in the 200m freestyle.
Titmus remains involved in the 800m freestyle, for which the heats began on Friday (2 August).
The Aussie athlete has caught the eye with her impressive performances in the pool, but some have questioned whether she has an unfair advantage.
Titmus has been sporting bright yellow acrylic nails, with some wondering if the length of these nails could be helping the sports star when it comes to activating the timing pads at either end of the swimming pool.
"How are fingernails like this allowed. I've seen how close the races have been," one person asked on Reddit.
Many have not had that point of view, however, as another person wrote: "If fingernails helped, everyone would have long ones, and would also grow out their toenails.
"The tips do not have enough surface area to trigger a touchpad and the force exerted by coming into a wall on a finger is very uncomfortable."
Meanwhile, a third person added: "Fake nails hitting the wall first are not going to make you win. You have to hit those boards hard to trigger them to stop."