A win is a win, no matter the margin. In a competition, whether it's by a single point or a hundred, being ahead means that the person is winning, period.
At the Olympics, winners express their victorious moments through various of expressions. But different culture has different habits, and that sometimes, the world has a lot of lessons to be taught to people who have just emerged.
Zhou Yaqin, born in 2005, is a Chinese artistic gymnast.
In the 2024 Paris Olympics, she is victorious by winning the silver medal. And soon, she becomes the internet's sweetheart when she hilariously failed to understand what do do with it.
At least symbolically, Zhou's photos and videos biting her silver medal while on the podium went viral for a very good reason.
Zhou Yaqin started developing a huge interest in gymnastics in Hengyang when she was only three years old.
Since then, she has trained with a clear purpose: winning.
In 2023, she was the silver medalist at the World balance beam, and in 2024, she began the 2024 season at the Cottbus World Cup, winning gold medals on both the balance beam and floor exercise. Then, at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge, she won a gold medal with the Chinese team, and she finished fifth in the floor exercise final.
More than capable to represent her country at the 2024 Summer Olympics, she flew to Europe with her team, where they qualified for the final in third place, and Zhou qualified for the balance beam final in first place
Unfortunately for Zhou, she fell off the balance beam twice in the team final, and the Chinese team finished sixth.
However, despite performing not as expected and that she had her score deducted due to grabbing the beam on a side jump, she still won the silver medal behind Italy's Alice D'Amato.
Zhou went viral for her actions during the Olympics podium for the balance beam final on August 5th.
Zhou was caught on camera with her seemingly surprised reaction seeing gold medal winner D'Amato and bronze medal winner Manila Esposito biting on their medals.
Her eyes widened with shock, unknowing how biting a metal has become a tradition to winners, considered a symbolic action that has been passed for generations.
But knowing that she was the odd one out who didn't know what to do with it, the 18-year-old first-time Olympian then tried her hand at the tradition by bringing her medal to her lips, but without the biting.
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With everything caught on camera, the internet simply loves her spontaneous reaction, and how she dealt with the situation.
The interaction spawned several memes, with many social media users commenting on her "Golden Retriever behavior" and "relatable,
"Like a lil sister copying her big sisters and it’s too cute!!" said another.
"Just holds it in front of her mouth!" one user wrote. "I love it."
Others noted how world-class events like the Olympic Games can bring a lot of people from different cultures and backgrounds together for a common goal, without the politics or their countries' issues.
"My (favorite) part of the Olympics are the cultural differences shown by the athletes," one user said.
"A true learning curve."
The Olympic gymnasts were following the trend that can be traced back to the era where medals were made with real gold.
Gold, being a relatively soft metal compared to others, its pure form is quite In its pure form, gold is quite malleable and ductile, which means that it can be shaped and stretched without breaking. What this also means, biting a medal made of real gold can create a little small tooth indent.
This is what historians believe, and that the tradition of biting medals has since become so widespread during the Olympics and other sports games.
After winning and successfully bringing pride to her country, and that the 2024 Games are over, everything is a wrap.
Yaqin Zhou returned to China, where she and her family live.
This was when the internet realized that Yaqin is actually a waitress.
The Olympian, having performed in a globally-acclaimed event, is seen serving dishes to customers at her family's restaurant.
"Have you ever been served by an #Olympics medal winner at a restaurant?" said one user on X.
The video has since went viral on the internet, showing how Yaqin, proudly wearing her uniform, was raised humbly.
Despite her world fame, when the spotlight is over, everything is back to normal, and life goes on.
