Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast Taisiia Onofriichuk amazed spectators with her hoop routine during the individual all-around competition at the Olympic games in Paris on Thursday.
The 16-year-old had fans in the Adidas Arena clapping along and viewers at home wowed as she performed her floor set to Michael Jackson's 1982 hit "Thriller."
Not only was Onofriichuk's routine incredibly entertaining, it was also insanely complex and perfectly timed. The gymnast even incorporated some moves from the original music video, which included, of course, the famous zombie walk.
During her performance, the Olympian performed skills that included turns, flips, throwing the hoop up to nine meters in the air— catching it blindly, mind you—and spinning it up and over her limbs.
You can watch below.
As you can imagine, the crowds—both in the arena and at home—went wild.
The all-around competition included ball, hoop, clubs, and ribbon performances.
Onofriichuk earned a score of 34.250 in the hoop event and advanced to the individual all-around final where she finished ninth overall after a shaky start.
And she was more than grateful for both her placement and the experience as a whole, especially considering that she wasn't even sure she would be able to get to Paris from Ukraine.
Iryna Blokhina, a coach and choreographer for the Ukrainian rhythmic gymnastics national team, told Reuters:
"We didn't know if we would even get here, because during the last attack before we left, we thought we wouldn't survive."
Onofriichuk said of her Olympic performance:
"This moment means a lot more to me than people can imagine."
"I felt calm inside... I'm incredibly proud to be representing Ukraine right now, especially during war and the conditions that we're training in, under bombs and under daily attacks."
Onofriichuk should be incredibly proud, and we're so happy that she got to have her Olympic moment.
A thriller, indeed.
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