Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Olympics corner: Freakout celebrations

Olympics corner: Freakout celebrations

Gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines reacts.

REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Now that the Tokyo Olympics are finally underway, your Signal crew will be bringing you some intriguing, uplifting, and quirky bits of color from a Games like no other…

Today we've got — the best freakout celebrations!


Winning an Olympic gold is surely an excuse to go nuts. For athletes, it's the ultimate prize for years of rigorous training. For their families, friends, and fellow citizens, it's a once-in-a-lifetime moment of feeling on top of the world — especially in countries where an Olympic gold literally comes once in a lifetime (if ever.)

In just a few days, Tokyo 2020 has already offered a few explosions of joy. Here are four that stood out for us.

  • Classmates of 17-year-old US swimmer Lydia Jacoby cheer her on from a watch party at Jacoby's high school in Alaska.
  • Filipina weightlifter — and air force sergeant — Hidilyn Diaz is proud AF and salutes the flag after winning her country's first-ever gold.
  • Pro-democracy Hong Kong fans drown out the Chinese national anthem after fencer Cheung Ka-long wins the territory's first gold since the 1997 British handover to China.
  • Australian swim coach Dean Boxall goes fully David Lee Roth after Ariarne Titmus wins the 400-m freestyle.
Which one's your favorite? Let us know.

More For You

US President Donald Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 2026.

US President Donald J. Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 2026.

Kenny Holston/Pool via REUTERS
The Trump administration has been rapidly expanding US forces in the Middle East, and is reportedly considering strikes in the region that could escalate into a full-fledged war.Yet it took 90 minutes for US President Donald Trump to mention Iran during his one-hour-and-48-minute State of the Union address last night. With the midterm campaign [...]
​He Weidong, Zhang Youxia, and Li Shangfu swear oaths as they are selected as China's Central Military Commission members during the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2023.

He Weidong, Zhang Youxia, and Li Shangfu swear oaths as they are selected as China's Central Military Commission members during the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2023.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
100: The estimated number of senior officials who’ve been sidelined or have disappeared from China’s military since 2022, according to a study released on Tuesday. According to analysts, those swept up in President Xi Jinping’s purge of his armed forces make up roughly half of the top military leadership. [...]
​Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, Estonia’s Prime Minister, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders visit memorial to fallen Ukrainian defenders at the Independent Square on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 24, 2026.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, Estonia’s Prime Minister, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other European leaders visit memorial to fallen Ukrainian defenders at the Independent Square on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 24, 2026.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Somewhere in the Donbas region, Ukrainian soldier Artem Bondarenko says he hasn’t slept through the night in months as he defends Eastern Ukraine. Explosions won’t let him. He is dodging drones and fighting in the freezing trenches in a war that turns four years old today. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, many experts gave [...]
​People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on Friday, in Bednayel, Bekaa valley, Lebanon, February 21, 2026.

People inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on Friday, in Bednayel, Bekaa valley, Lebanon, February 21, 2026.

REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Israel reportedly warns Lebanon about further strikesIsrael indirectly warned Lebanon that it would strike its northern neighbor hard if the Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah gets involved in any future US-Iran conflict, two Lebanese officials told Reuters. Israel damaged Hezbollah severely in 2024 as part of strikes on southern Lebanon, killing [...]