The just concluded 2024 Paris Olympics might be over but some impressive women caught not just our attention, but also our hearts.
Here are the women who went viral during the 2024 Paris Olympics and why.
South Korea’s Pistol Medalist Kim Ye-Ji
One of the major highlights from the first week of the 2024 Paris Olympics was an image of South Korea’s Kim Ye-ji looking very cool while shooting in the women’s 10-meter air pistol competition. This image made almost everyone long to hold and shoot a pistol. Surprisingly, Kim Ye-Ji won a silver medal during the Olympics breaking the belief that no one remembers who comes in second.
Brazil’s Frossard and Injured rival Kassoma of Angola
Brazil’s Frossard and her rival Kassoma of Angola gave viewers a good dose of women supporting women at the handball court during the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It all started during the battle for a spot in the quarter-finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The match was between Angola and Brazil when Albertina Kassoma suddenly suffered a knee injury and could not move. Angola’s team doctor and Brazil’s goalkeeper, Gabriela Moreschi were spotted trying to help her. Still, they were not making any headway and that was when Frossard swooped in and scooped up Kassoma – one of the tallest players in Paris and carried her off the court. This led to loud applause from the thousands of spectators at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Pregnant Nada Hafez and Yaylagul Ramazanova
It is common knowledge that pregnancy can affect a woman’s career. So many women have had to put their careers on hold while they were pregnant. But this was not the case for Egypt’s Nada Hafez who stormed the 2024 Paris Olympics seven months pregnant to compete in fencing, and Pregnant Yaylagul Ramazanova an Azerbaijani archer, who said she felt her baby kick before she took a shot — and then shot a 10, the maximum number of points.
Zhou Yaqin, the Medal-Biting Chinese Gymnast
Zhou Yaqin, the Chinese Gymnast gave us one of the cutest moments of the Paris 2024 Olympics. This was after her reaction to her fellow gymnasts biting their medals on the podium. Zhou, a first-time Olympian, won a silver medal in the women’s gymnastics balance beam final. The cute moment that went viral was when Italian gymnasts Alice D’Amato, who won gold, and Manila Esposito, who took bronze posed with their medals for photographs and videos.
The gold and bronze medalists took an obligatory medal chomp, and Zhou seeing this smiled and decided to join in. The wholesome moment interaction has since led to memes and reactions.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif Gender Controversy
The second week of the 2024 Paris Olympics games saw a major controversy in the women’s boxing competition. This was due to numerous arguments over the gender of Algeria’s Imane Khelif.
The issue went viral after one of the female boxers, Angela Carini representing Italy decided to abandon a match against Khelif by walking away from the contest to her corner. This would lead to a massive debate over the eligibility of Khelif with many claiming she was a male and should not be in the women’s category. It got to the extent that a lot of people started debates on who qualifies as a woman and if Khelif should be dropped from the competition. In all of these, Khelif did not waver as she went ahead to win a gold medal making her the first Algerian, Arab, and African woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. Shortly after her win, Khelif will go ahead to file a legal complaint against the social media platform X for harassment claiming she faced “aggravated online harassment.
There you have it. The reasons these women went viral during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Which of these caught your attention?
