When Ukraine’s striker Artem Dovbyk scored in the 120th minute during the last 16 game against Sweden, he instantly became a hero of millions of his compatriots since this is the first time Ukraine has advanced to the quarter-finals of a European Championship. But he became an internet sensation because of how he celebrated.
No - he didn't do a triple somersault or make provocative gestures to the fans of the rival team. In fact, his celebration was pretty mundane – the athlete took off his shirt and ran to the corner flag. However, what he had on under his shirt caused social media to explode.
Many users were baffled by the sight and even wondered whether the athlete belongs to the LGBT community.
Even more open-minded people said they were stunned…
Some suggested that this was a homage to US female athlete Brandi Chastain, who took off her shirt after scoring a winning penalty in the finals of the 1999 Women's World Cup.
Other netizens joked about the issue and some even came up with new football chants.
In fact the "sports bra" the athlete wore turned out to be nothing more than a GPS performance tracker, which is used to measure the athlete’s performance. It measures, speed, acceleration and deceleration as well as heart rate with data being streamed to a tablet, phone or smartwatch. Besides improving performance, the tracker also helps to prevent injuries with coaches seeing when players are being pushed to the limit.
Having beating Sweden, Ukraine will now face England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.