A Dutch speed skater flipping the bird on the podium has created one of the first mini-scandals of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.
Sjinkie Knegt earned a silver medal in men’s 1,500-meter speed skating. When he lined up to take pictures with other medal winners, Knegt clearly raised his middle finger.
what's wrong with @sjinkieknegt? his middle finger and his immature behavior insult the olympics -_- #Pyeongchang2018 #Knegt #shorttrack #크네흐트 #임효준 pic.twitter.com/qU7nT8V41Q
— Ginu Grouch (@ginu_at) February 11, 2018
You might be wondering, what’s the big deal? Perhaps, it was unintentional, and photogs just caught Knegt in an unfortunate pose. Well, Knegt’s got a history flipping the bird.
During the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, Knegt earned a silver medal and celebrated by giving the crowd the double bird.
Knegt told the Korea Times the middle finger wasn’t intentional.
“It looked like I put up the middle finger. It’s not intended … I just looked very bad in the photo, but it was not on purpose. I was just holding the medal.”
Fool me once Knegt, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on the everyone who believes it wasn’t intentional.
Knegt should enjoy the moment by embodying the Olympic spirit, not flipping the bird for the laughs of it – even if he says it’s not intentional, which it totally was.