Swedish pole vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis’ Olympics celebration drew mixed reactions from viewers, with some likening one of his interactions to a scene from ‘Fight Club’.
On August 5, the 24-year-old soared to new heights, clearing a 6.00 meter high bar to win a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He then set a new world record by vaulting over a 6.25 meter high bar.
Duplantis was in competition with Sam Kendricks from the US and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis. After clearing the 6.00 meter bar, Duplantis took the lead. Kendricks achieved a height of 5.95 meters, earning a silver medal, while Karalis took bronze with a height of 5.90 meters.
The crowd at the Stade de France in Paris erupted as Duplantis went on to clear heights of 6.10 and later 6.25 meters.
Following his gold medal win and world record-breaking performance, Duplantis celebrated by running to the crowd to kiss his girlfriend before being surrounded by teammates.
A video shared on Twitter captured a moment where Duplantis embraced another person wearing a Sweden top, with the two ‘roaring’ at each other and ‘punching each other in the chest’ around six times.
This moment led to some viewers feeling uncomfortable.
A Twitter user wrote: “He looked ticked off after the 2nd or 3rd punch. Overkill after a tremendous win! Whyyyy???”
“What in the Fight Club?” another added.
However, it was soon pointed out that the two were actually brothers, with the man on the receiving end of the punches being LSU baseball player Antoine Duplantis.
After all, it’s not every day you win an Olympic gold medal and break a world record. Some viewers might have felt a bit envious…
Reflecting on his historic achievement, Duplantis told the Olympics’ website: “I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was. It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out-of-body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now.
“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter.
“[My] biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”
As one Twitter user succinctly put it: “Brothers gonna brother.”