Smiling Usain Bolt

Smiling Usain Bolt

Part of a series on 2016 Summer Olympics. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 16, 2016 at 09:55PM EDT by Brad.

Added Aug 15, 2016 at 01:16PM EDT by Don.

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About

Smiling Usain Bolt is a photoshop meme and reaction image based on a photograph of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt grinning at a camera while leading the 100-meter dash race at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Origin

On August 14th, 2016, Usain Bolt won the gold medal in the men's 100-meters sprint finals with a time of 9.81 seconds, becoming the first track athlete in Olympic history to win three consecutive gold medals in a single discipline. Bolt's performance at the event was particularly noteworthy for beating his rival and American sprinter Justin Gatlin with an impressive upsurge in the last 40 meters of the dash. As Bolt crossed the finish line, Getty photographer Cameron Spencer photographed the athlete smiling at the camera (shown below).



That day, Twitter user @suss2hyphens[1] tweeted the photograph, describing it as "the opposite" of the Crying Michael Jordan meme. Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 6,400 likes and 5,100 retweets.


Follow @suss2hyphens we did t we have the opposite of crying jordan 8:23 PM-14 Aug 2016 わ닀 5,161 6,479

Spread

Several minutes later, Twitter user @russbengston[2] reposted the photo with a "bae come over" joke (shown below, left). That same evening, Twitter user @a7xweeman[4] tweeted the picture along with a reference to the β€œ*Record scratch* *Freeze frame*β€œ movie clichΓ©. Over the next day, the tweet received upwards of 47,000 likes and 35,600 retweets.


RUSS BENGTSON @russbengtson Follow bae: "come over" bolt: "can't, gotta run the 100" bae: "my parents aren't home" 8:37 PM-14 Aug 2016 わ닀 539 537 ben/lil boat fanboy @aTxweeman Follow Record scratch Freeze frame Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how l ended up in this situation. 8:49 PM 14 Aug 2016 わ£ 35,675 47,032

Also on August 14th, Twitter user @sporker_[3] posted a photoshopped version of the image showing Bolt running from "deadlines," "sleep" and "responsibilities," garnering more than 19,000 retweets and 15,000 likes in 24 hours(shown below).


deadlines sleep me responsibilities Luke Cripwalker @sporker Follow 9:07 PM- 14 Aug 2016 わ닀 19,718 15,034

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the photoshop meme, including The Observer,[5] The Daily Dot,[6] The Huffington Post,[7] The Independent[8] and The Daily Mail.[9]

Various Examples


@SB NATION LT @grantgoldberg

Search Interest

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