Noah Lyles's Gojo reference in Paris Olympics 2024 has Jujutsu Kaisen fans cock-a-hoop

Modified Aug 09, 2024 09:04 GMT

Although Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the most popular series in the world right now, not many people would have imagined it being referenced during the 2024 Olympics. Surprisingly, that's what happened at the Paris Olympics as Noah Lyles referenced Satoru Gojo's Domain Expansion right before the finals of the 200-meter dash.

Noah Lyles has been growing popular day by day following his comments about NBA Champions being called "World Champions." While his comments were arguably accurate, he faced a lot of criticism. Nevertheless, he proved that he wasn't all talk by winning the gold medal in the 100-meter race at the Olympics.

How did Noah Lyles reference Jujutsu Kaisen's Gojo in the Paris Olympics 2024?

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On August 8, 2024, the Paris Olympics 2024 conducted the finals for the 200-meter dash. Right before the race, as the camera panned to the American track-and-field sprinter Noah Lyles, he struck Jujutsu Kaisen's fan-favorite character, Satoru Gojo's iconic Domain Expansion hand sign.

As mentioned above, Noah Lyles had already won the gold medal for the 100-meter dash. But he didn't stop at that as he also won the Bronze medal for the 200-meter dash.

Hinata Shoyo as seen in Haikyuu!! anime (Image via Production I.G)

Surprisingly, this isn't the first anime reference made at the Paris Olympics 2024, as several athletes struck One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy poses before their events. Meanwhile, Haikyuu's opening theme songs were played during Japan's volleyball matches.

The most memorable match out of them was Japan's match against Argentina, which brought Haikyuu manga's ending to life. Goku's Ultra Instinct theme music was also played at the start of one of the events.

How fans reacted to Noah Lyles's Jujutsu Kaisen reference at Paris Olympics 2024

Satoru Gojo as seen in Jujutsu Kaisen (Image via MAPPA)

Jujutsu Kaisen fans were elated to see the track-and-field sprinter strike Satoru Gojo's hand sign, as it proved how influential the anime series was. It is human nature to feel happy when one sees something they like being referenced in media. The same happened when Noah Lyles referenced Gojo before the 200-meter dash.

Fans said that it made sense for Noah Lyles to strike the hand sign as he had an "aura" similar to that of Satoru Gojo. Another fan said they screamed upon seeing the athlete strike the pose.

"Both of them have Aura so it makes sense," one fan said.

"SCREAMED WHEN I SAW IT," another added.

As for another fan, they referenced one of Gojo's dialogues from the manga, "Nah, I'd win." While Gojo himself lost the fight he was talking about, Noah Lyles won the Bronze medal for his race.

"He took nah I’d win too seriously," another fan said.

"And they tried to clown him. Won gold and got bronze with covid," other fan said.

Lastly, other fans spoke about the way basketball fans were clowning him for not winning the Gold medal in the 200-meter dash. The sprinter had already won the Gold medal in the 100-meter dash and the Bronze medal in the 200-meter dash, all while having COVID-19. Thus, it made no sense that he was getting criticized despite winning two medals.

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Edited by Gokul Chettiyar