Olympic medallist Yared Nuguse thanks Taylor Swift after podium finish at the Paris Olympics

Yared Nuguse has long since established that he's a big fan of popstar Taylor Swift, and he recently thanked the singer after his podium finish at the Paris Olympics. Making his debut at the Games, the middle-distance runner claimed bronze, making him the second American on the podium behind gold medalist Cole Hocker.

Nuguse went into the 2024 Olympics very much the underdog, with a podium finish seemingly out of reach. The 1500m race at the Games was expected to be a showdown between Tokyo Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and 2023 World Champion Josh Kerr, but in a surprise twist, it was Hocker who overtook the big guns on the last straight, setting an Olympic record en route to gold.

Behind him, Yared Nuguse pulled off an upset of his own, edging out Ingebrigtsen and denying the Norwegian a podium finish.

As the former Notre Dame runner clinched bronze, cheering him on in the stands were his friends and family, many of whom sported t-shirts featuring a collage of Nuguse’s photos with the words ‘Yared Nuguse, the Olympic Tour,’ inspired by Taylor Swift's ‘The Eras Tour’ t-shirts.

After his win, the runner thanked his family, friends, coaches, and sponsors in a lengthy note on Instagram, and even gave a shout-out to the popstar, writing,

“Finally, some miscellaneous thank yous: Tyro for being a cool tortoise, my competition for pushing me to my limits, my sports psychologist for helping me stay cool under pressure, Taylor Swift for the inspiration on the amazing shirts, my "haters" for existing when there's so few of you, the splatoon community for their wonderful messages, and Paris for having us.”

Yared Nuguse on being a ‘Swiftie’ and drawing inspiration from the pop star

After his second-place finish at the U.S Olympic Trials in July, Yared Nuguse had confirmed his status as a ‘Swiftie’, telling USATF in an interview,

“The rumors are true, I'm very much a Swiftie. I went to the Eras tour back in Vegas in March.”

When asked which Swift song he knew word for word, the runner confirmed he could sing all of them, while labeling ‘You Belong With Me’ as his favorite song of all time.

Nuguse went on to add that he most related to Swift's ‘Reputation Era’ mentioning that he drew confidence in being the underdog.

“Reputation, I feel like people say you can't always be in your Reputation Era but I kind of feel like I am, just sometimes. Even though I'm doing super well, life is going great, I'm still in my Reputation Era, and I love being like a little bit of an underdog there and I think Reputation kind of encapsulates that.”

Yared Nuguse wasn't the only American at the Paris Olympics who was a big fan of Taylor Swift and her music. Gymnast Simone Biles, heptathlete Anna Hall, rower Michelle Sechser, the United States water polo team, and a handful of other athletes revealed that Swift is a big part of their pre-competition playlist.