China National Swimming Championships - Day 3 (Photo : Getty Images)
If Chinese 200-meter swimming gold medalist Sun Yang became the subject of netizen’s sense of humor because of his imperfect but "shark-like" set of teeth, a female Chinese swimmer is now the darling of social media.
The reason behind the surge in popularity of 100-meter backstroke bronze medalist Fu Yunhai's fame is her facial expression and introduction of a Chinese phrase from a fantasy drama.
China Daily reported that when China Central Television (CCTV) interviewed Fu on Monday after the semi-finals, she showed a series of funny and interesting facial expressions like that of a happy child when given a candy. With her 58.95 seconds swim in the semi-finals, Fu set a personal best record which she thought was 59 seconds.
The CCTV reporter asked the swimmer if she held back for the final, she answered, “No, I utilized by ‘prehistorical power.’” She actually means she spared no efforts in the semifinal.
She got the phrase from “The Journey of Flower” or “Hua Qian Gu,” a Chinese fantasy drama. The English translation, “prehistorical power” was first seen by CCTV news viewers on its subtitles. Since her remarks, Fu and the phrase became viral on social media and an internet meme.
The 20-year-old swimmer’s translated answer was “It is probably my short arms to blame. Since I utilized the ‘prehistorical’ yesterday, my strength died.”
