Many swimmers have a unique tradition they like to adhere to before each race — like Michael Phelps' arm flap, which shows off the Olympic champion's impressive wing span.
Canadian Olympic swimmer Santo Condorelli also makes like a bird before every race. But instead of flapping like a bird, he flips one. At his father.
And Condorelli's father, Joseph, flips off his son right back.
But it's not like the father and son hate each other. Far from it. This, um, upstanding tradition came as a way to keep young Santo from losing his nerve when he faced bigger, more intimidating swimmers on the blocks.
Canadian swimmer gives his dad the finger before every race. https://t.co/D0ntWVF3IR pic.twitter.com/ZBJZJpLqUA
— theScore (@theScore) August 4, 2016
“When you get on the blocks, just put everything out of your mind and swim like there’s nobody near you," dad Joseph recalls telling his son, via Swim Swam. "He said to me, ‘How do you do that?’ and I said, ‘Well, you say [expletive] it.’ So he looked at me in the crowd, and we both gave each other the finger, and he started winning race after race and we never looked back.”
Santo, for his part, credits the gesture for calming his nerves:
“My dad was like you know what? Give me the finger before every race, just to worry about us, what we put in, we can conquer anything”
The finger has gotten Santo as far as the Rio Olympics, where the 21-year-old will compete against the likes of Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly, as well as the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle.
And for that, we one-finger salute him.
