Kit Roberts
A US athlete's 'weird' gesture on the podium at the Olympics has left the internet divided.
On Sunday (July 28), the Olympic event for the women's 100m butterfly final took place, with the event becoming dominated by Team USA, as Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh from the US ended up taking both the gold and the silver medal home.
Walsh had been pipped to smash records in the event, but it was Huske who ended up beating her teammate to the gold medal by just 0.04 seconds.
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Huske, 21, ended up finishing with a time of 55.59 seconds in the event, with her teammate Walsh coming in at 55.63 seconds, making the final margin razor thin.
Meanwhile, China's Zhang Yufei took the bronze medal, coming in with a time of 56.21 seconds, just 0.62 seconds behind Walsh.
And Huske could scarcely believe it when she turned to see that she had taken the gold.
Speaking afterwards, she said: "I didn’t know how to process it. It’s just very overwhelming when you’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long."
But her actions on the podium appear to have caused as much of a stir as her performance in the pool.
Torri Huske invites silver medalist Gretchen Walsh up onto the gold medal podium ahead of the national anthem. You love to see it pic.twitter.com/jo9EPGQYlk
— Kendall Baker (@kendallbaker) July 28, 2024
As the US national anthem was about to play over the speakers, Huske ushered Walsh onto the gold medal podium with her.
The gesture was probably intended as a way to share the moment together - especially with the two US teammates having been so close in their finishing times.
Huske later said: “It was just really cool to be up there with her. I feel like that's like, what we always do.
"When there's an American who's on the podium with you, you always listen to the national anthem together."
But some people noticed how Bronze medallist Zhang Yufei was then left by herself on the bronze podium.
Viewers shared their thoughts on social media, with one saying: "Never seen that done, kinda weird?"
Someone else posted on Twitter: "Awesome but awkward for the bronze medalist."
Meanwhile, a third said they 'could have included the other young woman'.
However, some disagreed as one viewer called it 'beautiful' and 'awesome', while someone else said: "Aww that’s so wonderful."
Later on, Huske and Walsh also invited Zhang to join them on the top podium to take photos and celebrate, with the bronze medalist saying: "It was a really warming gesture that they invited me on the podium."