As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics keep many glued to their television screens or repeatedly checking the medal tally, judo star Martyna Trajdos has gone viral for a rather strange reason. In visuals that have since been shared by people around the globe, her coach can be shaking and slapping her face as part of her pre-match preparations.
Videos of the incident show coach Claudiu Pusa grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her before slapping her twice across the face as she was marching out for her match. And while the video does leave us uncertain as to the amount of force employed, we assume that it had to have hurt (at least to a small degree). Once the bizarre routine is over, she continues on her way.
Interestingly enough, the athlete isn't convinced that the slaps were strong enough. With her opponent Szofi Özbas winning the match, Trajdos took to Instagram sharing the clip and contending that "this was not hard enough".
"I wish I could have made a different headline today. As I already said that’s the ritual which I chose pre competition! My coach is just doing what I want him to do to fire me up!" she explained.
The clip has sparked fury as well as a slew of memes online. "Abusive coach. Also it’s counter productive: even in martial arts athletes need cool heads and focus, not judgement clouded by aggression response," read one outraged tweet.
"Anyone who has done judo or combat sports understands. Best of luck in competition!" countered another.
"My first cup of coffee greeting me in the morning," joked a third.
"In few families, women do this ritual on their husbands to wake him up," contended another somewhat problematic tweet.
