The Art of Olympic Hugging

If you are a wannabe Olympian, you should learn the very important art of Olympic hugging in case some silly paparazzi take your hugging photo and immortalize it for all time. Anyways, I’ve compiled several photos [actually xinhuanet did] so you’ll know how to do it properly.

1. The “I’m so happy, I will cry hug” featuring Italian fencing silver medalist Francesco D Aniello.

2. The “group circle hug” featuring the German dressage team which won the gold medal.

3. The “I may be an Olympic gold medalist but I’m very respectful of my coach hug” brought to you by South Korean Jin Jong Oh, gold medalist of the 50 meters pistol shooting who’s very respectful of his coach.

4. I’m almost tempted to call this the “get a room, hug” but I’m afraid of them Chinese censors so let us call it the “I’m looking at you and almost hugging you hug”.

5. The “cutest hug” ever courtesy of China’s Zhang Xiangxiang, gold medalist in weightlifting (62 kilos). Would you agree that this is the best hug of the bunch? The best thing about this hug is that you can almost hear those clueless and patronizing American commentators — who were trained to think that Chinese athletes are automatons — say things like “Look, he’s smiling. He’s happy. He’s got feelings.” Boo, clueless and patronizing commentators!

6. The “I’m too tired my coach is carrying me like a rag doll hug” courtesy of Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi and his coach; Andrea bagged a gold medal in Greco Roman wrestling.

7. The “really synchronized hug” featuring synchronized diving bronze medalists Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer of Germany.

8. The “almost brokebacky, toes curled hug” featuring the merman himself and his teammate Ian Crocker.

9. The “so very intense, it can scare babies hug” courtesy of judo gold medalist Alina Alexandra Dumitru of Romania.

10. The “I’m so happy I’ll have my coach carry me hug” brought to you by German fencer Benjamin Philip Kleibrink who won the gold medal in the men’s individual foil.

Photo source: xinhuanet