All eyes were on the men during this year’s Olympic 100m breaststroke event on Sunday (July 28), but one swimmer garnered more attention than the rest.
Interestingly, it’s not about gold medallist Nicolo Martinenghi.
The Italian swimmer delivered an incredible performance, winning with a time of 59.03. However, it was another swimmer further down the rankings who became the talk of the event.
Representing the Netherlands, Arno Kamminga dove into the pool and although he claimed two silver medals at his first Olympics in Tokyo, he finished sixth in this race.
The Dutch team selected a white-orange color scheme for their swimmers’ attire, but the pattern on the shorts created an optical illusion, making it difficult to distinguish where the shorts ended and skin began.
This led many viewers to do a double-take when they saw Kamminga by the pool, ensuring that his swimsuit had not drifted away.
One person jokingly questioned if Kamminga’s snug swimsuit was ‘legal,’ while another commented: “Watching the olympics for the sports. the sports in question:”, alongside a picture of Kamminga.
Other viewers expressed that Kamminga’s appearance inspired them to learn more about his career, leading many to check out his Instagram page post-Olympics.
One comment reads: “Like this if the swimsuit brought you here lol,” and it has garnered 563 likes as of July 31.
Another comment stated: “Those swimmers are so cheeky.”
Despite the attention on his attire, there was much more to Kamminga’s performance, and he admitted his disappointment with his 100m breaststroke result afterwards.
He shared a picture of himself on the starting block taken before the race, captioning it with a broken-heart emoji.
“Not what I came for,” he wrote alongside the image.
Fans quickly showered Kamminga with support after seeing his disappointment, with many assuring him he’s still an ‘inspiration.’
One supporter commented: “You are a great athlete, despite the result you have shown how much you are worth and with this post you demonstrate how much commitment and passion you put into everything you do,” adding: “There will be other opportunities to rejoice and you will deserve them all Arno.”
Kamminga lost out in the race to Nic Fink of the US and UK’s Adam Peaty, who shared second place.
The top three were followed by Melvin Imoudu and Lucas Matzerath from Germany, with Kamminga finishing behind them.
