Olympic Athlete Does One Piece Pose Before Winning Gold

One Piece fans may have spotted a particular reference to the anime at the Olympics, as an athlete imitated an iconic pose before winning gold.

Greek athlete Miltiadis Tentoglou prepared for the Men's Long Jump at the Tokyo Olympics by channeling One Piece protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. Standing before his national flag, the athlete proceeded to press his fist to the ground, imitating the gear second (second gear in the dub) stance. When asked about the pose in a following interview, Tentoglou said, "If you know, you know...It's from One Piece. It's a power up that Luffy had." He then proceeded to display the pose a second time.

The huge popularity of One Piece in Japan, as well as the rest of the world, meant that many fans likely caught the reference before it was clarified in the interview. Luffy used the stance the first time he entered gear second, a power he debuted during the Enies Lobby Arc. The premise of the power up is that Luffy is able to manipulate his rubber body to speed up his blood flow, enriching it with more oxygen and nutrients for explosive speed. While Tentoglou lacks the edge of a devil fruit power, he managed to claim victory, with his best leap in round six reaching 8.41m.

Source: Twitter