Celebrating Early Almost Cost This Skier His Gold Medal

After 40 minutes of intense cross-country skiing and shooting at tiny targets with an elevated heart rate, Norwegian Emil Hegle Svendsen was just inches away from the biathlon finish line and a gold medal. He started to celebrate. Which was pretty dumb!

As soon as Svendsen began to raise his arms in triumph, a dastardly Frenchman named Martin Fourcade dove across the finish line to try to steal the gold. You can see him begin to make his move above; the New York Times says Fourcade was actually initially declared the winner:

The two skiers reached the final straight together, but Svendsen seemed to have sealed victory when he pulled away in the sprint for the line.

Fourcade fought back to lunge toward the finish — the first binding to cross the line determining the winner — just as Svendsen raised his arms in celebration.

The official television feed initially showed Fourcade, who had earlier claimed the 20-kilometer individual and 12.5-kilometer pursuit titles, as the winner. A photo finish was called and Svendsen, who had disappointed in the first three races here, was awarded the victory.

Here’s the GIF:

 

(Relevant Seinfeld clip.)

[H/T: FTW, Photo: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports]