- Armand Duplantis has revealed the secret challenge behind his celebration
- Olympic superstar imitates Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec
- He revealed that Australian diver Kurtis Marschall challenged him to do it.
Armand Duplantis has revealed the secret inspiration behind his iconic celebration of the Turkish shooter at the Olympics.
The 24-year-old Swede made headlines around the world on Monday night after outsprinting every man before him to set a new world record at the Stade de France.
His incredible effort in jumping the 6.25m mark sparked chaos among the 70,000 fans and Duplantis admitted to being elated by his achievement, running to embrace his model girlfriend Desiré Englander with a passionate kiss.
But before that, another celebration went viral after breaking the Olympic record of 6.10m for the first time.
The Swede emulated Turkish shooting silver medallist Yusuf Dikec, whose laid-back style saw him sweep the internet earlier in the Games.
Putting one hand in his pocket and making a gun sign with the other arm extended, the world immediately knew who Duplantis was imitating and burst out laughing.
The 24-year-old has since revealed the secret challenge that led him to hold the celebration.
“I guess it was something that just happened,” he said.
Armand Duplantis has revealed the secret behind his iconic celebration in Paris
The Swede made headlines after kissing his model girlfriend following his victory
But he said an Australian jumper challenged him to imitate the Turkish shooter.
“Kurtis Marschall, the Australian diver, I guess he dared me to do it. He was like, ‘Bro, do that Turkish diver celebration. ‘ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. ‘ It sounded pretty cool. I thought it was a cool meme. It looks like a pretty cool ‘G,’ so I just did it.
“I thought it was more of a fun thing. I was in the moment, trying to do something funny and edgy.”
The pole vault star has now added a second Olympic crown to her long list of achievements, which already included two world championship golds and three European titles.
“I haven’t been able to process how fantastic that moment was,” she said later. “It’s one of those things that doesn’t feel real, an out-of-body experience.”
He added: ‘My biggest dream since I was a child was to break the world record at the Olympics.
“And I was able to do it in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.
“I felt really prepared. I’ve never been so cooped up in my life as I have been these past three months. Now I’m ready to eat a lot of food. The party is going to be pretty big.”
