It was raining in Rio tonight, which made things just a tad difficult for competitors in Track & Field. Just ask Brazil hurdler João Vítor de Oliveira, who took a dive on the wet track:
You'd think that would mean the end for him, but Oliveira legit slip-n-slided right across the finish line to qualify for the 110m hurdles semi-finals.
Twitter had a ball with the flop-turned-win:
Hurdles mixed with slip & slide! #BRA #Rio2016 #athletics pic.twitter.com/YjCAUwfmKC— Patrick (@RatedRHero) August 16, 2016
For the record–this is not Vítor de Oliveira's first time falling during a race. This is him at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing in 2015, when it wasn't raining:
Hey, not everyone can be Usain Bolt.
Unless you're Bahamas runner Shaunae Miller, that is. Miller also took a dive past the finish line, but managed to win the OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL for it–the first for her country in Rio. She and Team USA runner Allyson Felix were just milliseconds apart (Felix came away with silver, her fifth Olympic medal).
Amazingly, official rules say it's totally okay to dive like that–the winner is determined by whose torso crosses the line first (the head doesn't count). PS: Miller is a towering 6'1", Allyson Felix is 5'6".
Insanity.
