Well, once again the Summer Olympics are a thing of the past, as the 2024 Paris Olympic games wrapped up with the closing ceremony on August 11. But, as with many wonderful wins, moments and performances from previous games, there are likely to be a lot of things from this year’s competition that viewers just can’t stop thinking about. I, for one, can’t stop watching this adorable video of a cat “saving” an Olympian from a balance beam fall.
How Did A Cat ‘Save’ An Olympian From A Balance Beam Fall?
As most of us know, the Olympics usually abound with viral moments and things that become pop culture touchstones for years to come. From Tom Cruise’s epic Olympic entrance to those pommel horse Olympian/American Dad character comparisons and Simone Biles with her GOAT necklace, the games this year offered up many memorable events. However, what I can’t stop watching is a really sweet video that shows a humble house cat “saving” a gymnast during her competition on the balance beam. Take a look!
When the timing is perfect pic.twitter.com/jZ7XImP9SaAugust 5, 2024
I mean, really. “When the timing is perfect” is correct, isn’t it? Obviously, this is (likely) just a wonderful coincidence, as this cat was simply doing what millions of people did while the games were on for two weeks. We all watched intently as the athletes engaged in a number of pursuits that we either don’t watch on any kind of regular basis, or have actually never heard of, with our hopes and prayers for success (or at least not complete embarrassment) staying strong all the way through.
Unfortunately, not everyone can perform well enough at the Olympics to win a medal and get paid for their hard work, and mistakes do happen. The 2024 balance beam finals saw four out of the eight athletes fall off (with Simone Biles attributing the issue to the awkward lack of music), while one additional gymnast had to grab the beam to stay on. And, much like this cat, when we see someone wobble/fumble during their competition, we all have that “Oh no!” moment and wish we could help or at least will them to get back on track.
Those athletes work incredibly hard for most of their lives just to get to the Olympics, and performing better than everyone else who’s trained just as hard is no easy task, especially because anything could throw someone off and make a medal-winning performance slip from their grasp.
I know I said that this cat delivering the gymnast from a balance beam fall was probably just a coincidence, but I prefer to think of it differently. Cats are magical little lunatics, so maybe this one is actually this gymnast’s spirit animal in physical form, and was able to step in at just the right time to keep her Olympic dreams alive. Weirder things have definitely happened.
