One Piece Congratulates Olympians Following Their Straw Hat Shout Outs

One Piece sent some congratulatory messages to some Olympic athletes following their major Straw Hat shout outs during the Tokyo Olympics. While it was a rough start due to the new state of emergency in Tokyo just before it began, the event itself has seen a number of fun anime and video game references throughout and this includes the Olympic athletes themselves as they have been showing off their anime and manga fandom. Three athletes in particular caught some attention from fans for emulating some famous poses from the series before taking on their respective events.

Long jump gold medalist Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece surprised fans with his take on Monkey D. Luffy’s Gear Second pose when he made his introduction, United States shot putter Payton Otterdahl then took this one step further with his take on Franky’s “SUPEEEERRR” pose, and 20KM gold medalists Massimo Stano of Italy then gave Luffy another shout out with Gear Third. One Piece‘s official Twitter account wanted to share their congratulatory and thanks messages for each of the shout outs too. Below is Miltiadis Tentoglou first:

Second is for Payton Otterdahl:

Finally, here’s Massimo Stano:

It’s no surprise to see One Piece‘s popularity spanning across the world in multiple different countries like this considering it’s been around for over 20 years, but what do you think of the series’ multiple shout outs from athletes during the Tokyo Olympics? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!