Cato Event Podcast

A well-timed gif immortalizing U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney’s stunning acrobatics in the women’s vault final of the artistic gymnastics event set the overall tone of the 2012 London Olympics and has no doubt been watched far more times, by far more people, than the live event ever was. When McKayla was awarded the silver medal for her efforts, the world was at least as unimpressed as she was, with the face she made on the winner’s podium quickly becoming one of the most recognizable and long-lasting memes on the Internet. Later that year, McKayla and President Obama posed for a photograph in the Oval Office, emulating her by-then trademark scowl and crossed arms.McKayla is far from the only Olympian to have crossed pop culture barriers in this way. American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, is the subject of numerous memes. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s victory pose fueled a photo craze called “Bolting,” while a picture taken of British track and field athlete Mo Farah during t