The US Olympic gymnast Suni Lee joined in on a social media trend on Tuesday, poking fun at herself for falling during the balance beam final on Monday.
The video, posted to Lee’s TikTok, shows the moment she fell off the balance beam, with the caption “unfortunately I was selected for the olympics” and a remix of the American national anthem playing in the background. The video has been viewed more than 20m times as of Wednesday afternoon.
The video, made by the six-time Olympic medalist, was posted in response to a viral trend on TikTok, where dozens of users are sharing videos of their athletic fails and funny moments, and joking that they did not make the cut for the 2024 Olympics.
The videos often uses the remixed version of the American national anthem to accompany the clips, the same that Lee, who has 3 million TikTok followers, used, named Star Spangled (Bass Boosted).
One of the most viral and watched videos from the trend shows a woman diving into a pool during what appears to be a competition and falling backwards in the water. The video has amassed more than 89m views. Another, shows a young girl spinning and then falling on the uneven bars.
Lee’s video on Tuesday just adds to the flood of viral moments and social media stars that have come out of the 2024 Paris Olympics so far. Many of the athletes this year have boosted their social media presences, often poking fun at themselves, the games, and making use of the spotlight on them.
Some of the viral stars and moments from this year’s Olympics have included Stephen Nedoroscik, a US gymnast, who went viral online after he was caught resting his eyes on the sidelines of the gymnastics events. Nedoroscik has become known as the “Pommel Horse Guy”, gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and been compared to Clark Kent/Superman.
Another viral social media star is Henrik Christiansen, a Norwegian swimmer, who has been going viral for documenting the chocolate muffins at the Olympic village on TikTok.
At the last Olympic games in Tokyo, one of the breakout personalities was Ilona Maher, the American rugby star who since amassed more than 3.3m Instagram followers and more than 2.2 million followers on TikTok. Her recent posts since arriving in Paris have included a stress test of the cardboard beds in the village and a Love Island-inspired clip about finding a romantic partner while at the Summer games.
