While all athletes at the Paris Olympics are aiming to leave the Games with medals, one revealed she was hoping for a win, too.
Team USA rower Emily Delleman has become an online sensation since her TikTok video titled ‘Olympic Village Tinder’ went viral.
But the video, which has been viewed more than four million times, does not reveal the athletes’ nocturnal activities but instead destroys the myth that the Olympic Village – where competitors are given 200,000 condoms – is the site of thousands of sexual encounters.
In the two-minute video, Emily, who is part of the U.S. women’s quadruple sculls team, admits that the only thing that hasn’t met her expectations is the availability of potential partners.
She explains: ‘So, I’m in the Olympic Village right now and so far most things have exceeded my expectations, the food, the vibes, the atmosphere, the fits – oh, it’s crazy – everything except this one thing.
Team USA rower Emily Delleman (pictured) has become an online sensation thanks to her ‘Olympic Village Tinder’ TikTok video, which has been viewed more than four million times.
‘So the other day I was laying on my cardboard bed recovering like it was my job, because it is, and I was scrolling through TikTok and I was seeing girls saying things like “hey, change your geolocation to the Olympic Village, do you want to have babies?”‘
The 26-year-old athlete added that she was thrilled by the idea and described it as “great.”
She continues: ‘I mean I’m here right now for you to make the most of this, just like when you’re in Rome.’
Motivated by the clips she had seen, Emily downloaded the dating app Tinder, which told users they could “find professional athletes using our new feature.”
Emily, who had begun to believe she was missing something, was encouraged by what she saw and figured “this must be good.”
She explains: ‘I was getting excited, expectations were rising. I was imagining something like the Yik Yak – I don’t know, some of you might not like it – the YikYak of the junior nationals, where it’s like the plots are starting to unfold.’
‘YikYak’ refers to another application where users can remain anonymous and adopt pseudonyms.
But while Emily expected Tinder to be flooded with potential Olympic matches, the reality was very different.
In her two-minute video, Emily explains how she downloaded Tinder in the hope of finding a match in the Olympic Village, but was left disappointed.
She adds: “I start scrolling and scrolling and it’s like I don’t see any Olympic athletes.”
Although she initially thought her “settings must be weird” because she had seen “a total of two other Olympians” on the app, her settings were not the problem.
Emily’s expectations of finding some of her “future storylines” in the Olympic Village didn’t materialise, with the Olympian adding: “Unfortunately, I guess we’re looking for other forms of entertainment and that’s why they’re finding me on TikTok.”
But while she was disappointed by the lack of athletes on Tinder, she acknowledged that the Parisian men on the app are “beautiful” but not the ones she was looking for.
Emily’s video has received over 250,000 likes and racked up nearly 2,000 comments.
One person suggested Emily was on the wrong app and told her to use Raya, which markets itself as a more exclusive dating app for those with high public profiles.
They wrote: ‘Girl, you’re an Olympian! Go Raya!’
Someone else appreciated Emily’s efforts, adding: “The way she camped out near the rugby team’s dorm.”
Nearly two thousand people commented on Emily’s post, with one person encouraging her to ditch Tinder in favor of the more exclusive dating app Raya.
A third person wrote: ‘Please someone make an Olympic Village reality show.’
While a fourth agreed: “Tell us some outrageous things you’ve seen.”
A fifth, however, suggested a reason why Emily’s attempts to find a partner in the Olympic Village had been unsuccessful.
They said, ‘It is because MANY people changed their location to the village that they are receiving strangers.’