THE SCRAP MEDAL for Counting Champion goes to Captain Soulpatch (aka
Apolo Anton Ohno), who incessantly finger-flashes his medal tally each
time he adds to the count.
Obviously Ohno is a phenomenal athlete worthy of praise for his athletic
achievements, but I'd be much more inclined to cheer for him if he
weren't already taking care of that job so well himself. Spontaneous
celebration of a victory is one thing, but this kind of pre-calculated
self-congratulating comes off as seriously crass. And when Ohno throws
his metal-tipped fingers in the air, tallying his medals again after a
race in which he didn't even place first? That's just stealing the
thunder from the gold medalist. "Sure you won THIS ONE RACE," Ohno's
fingers taunt, "But do you have THIS MANY medals?"
Plus, every time he does this I hear Count Von Count from Sesame
Street's voice in my head. "Seven! SEVEN OLYMPIC MEDALS! AH HA HA!"
THUNDERCLAP!