Chinese Olympic gold medal winners’ pose sparks social media jokes about relationship
- Making their Games debuts, Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani won China’s first diving gold medal
A photo of Chinese diving gold medallists Chen Yiwen picking up her partner Chang Yani in a bridal carry, leading to a jaw-dropping reaction from the American athlete next to them, has gone viral online.
Making their Olympics debuts, 22-year-old Chang and 24-year-old Chen won China’s first diving gold medal after beating the United States and British teams in the women’s synchronised 3-metre springboard final on Saturday.
The Chinese duo, who have won the last three 3m synchronised world titles together, posted a score of 337.68 to beat US’ Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook (314.64) – dubbed “Cook’N’Bacon” – who took home silver ahead of Great Britain’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28) in bronze.
Chen picked up Chang in a bridal carry for a photo after they receiving their gold medals, which led many netizens to joke that Chang and Chen are in a romantic relationship, posting online fan-made edits of their interactions in slow-motion paired with romantic captions.
“If love has miracles, I would be the happiest creating them with you,” wrote one Xiaohongshu user who posted a series of moments between the pair moments during the competition.
“The most romantic thing is to have your names engraved together in sporting history,” commented another user.