Canadian Olympic pole vaulter Alysha Newman has made a lot of fans over the past 48 hours.
Not only did she capture a bronze at the Paris 2024 Games, but she also did so while clearly having a lot of fun. The 30-year-old was dancing and laughing throughout her competition in which she broke her personal best and set a new Canadian record.
Newman captured a lot of attention with her celebration after clearing a stupendous 4.85m bar. She ran in celebration before grabbing onto her hamstring, and it looked like she might’ve hurt herself.
She quickly took the fear out of the crowd when she started twerking,
This is the attempt that won Alysha Newman her first-ever Olympic medal.
Up and over the bar at 4.85m 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦pic.twitter.com/MiBL2j17H0
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) August 7, 2024
She explained some of the reasoning behind her special celebration in an interview with CBC’s Ariel Helwani.
“I’m always injured, right? And I’m always getting back on the horse,” stated Newman.
“So I said, okay, I’m going to scare my coaches. I’m going to fake an injury and I’m going to dance after. It just happened very fluid.”
“I didn’t honestly think, ‘I’m going to twerk,’ but that was just from getting to that knee to the twerk. It all worked.”
The celebration caused a lot of laughs and gave fans an insight into the athlete’s personality.
This is Newman’s third Olympics, and this was her first medal. She became the first Canadian to earn a medal in pole vault in more than 100 years.
For those who want more behind-the-scenes content from Newman, you’re in luck. The athletics star has an OnlyFans side hustle where she posts videos and photos from events and training sessions. Fans can pay a fee to get access to this content and follow along with her career.
Newman’s medal added to Canada’s total as they are on pace to make the Paris Olympics one of their most successful Games ever.