A pair of Olympic British swimmers barely held back their laughter in an awkward, post-race interview after a broadcaster complimented their “third leg” and how “phenomenal” it was.
BBC sports reporter Clare Balding interviewed Team Great Britain following their victory in the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay in Tokyo on Wednesday and commented on the Olympians’ young age and historic victory, which set a new European record.
“You’re 18 years old, it’s your first Olympics, and your third leg was just phenomenal,” Balding told the swimmers.
Immediately after, swimmer Tom Dean chuckled and visibly struggled to keep his composure as his mind went straight to the gutter — while teammate Matthew Richards, who the comment was directed to, held back a grin and awkwardly paused before finding his words.
The red-faced champions earned a second set of applause in the comment section of a viral TikTok video of the interview that was captioned “did she really just say that?” and has already racked up nearly five million views.
“18 and held it together without laughing hysterically. That’s an achievement on its own,” one person commented on the video.
“Caused a bit of a drag but I swam on,” another wrote as a joke response Richards could’ve given.
“He deserves another Gold for holding it in,” one TikToker wrote.
“[Dean] wanted to look at him, but then did not because he knew he would burst out laughing,” one more wrote.
Dean and Richards, along with teammates James Guy and Duncan Scott, beat out Russia and Australia in the race to secure the gold.
