Cole Hocker’s father, Kyle, screamed an explicit response as his son won the 1,500meter race at the Olympics in dramatic fashion.
Hocker grabbed headlines on Tuesday after upsetting the favorites to win the event. At the tail end of the race, Hocker breezed past world champion Josh Kerr of Great Britain and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigsten to break the Olympic record with a time of 3:27.65.
Like the rest of the world, Hocker’s father was shocked by his son’s last-ditch effort to steal the race from his competitors as the door appeared to be closing in his face.
A viral video, that has gained over 700k views on X, showed Kyle screaming ‘What the f***’ as Cole approached the finish line.
He is then seen jumping up and down with the rest of the crowd in celebration.
Cole Hocker’s father went viral for his X-rated reaction to the runner’s Olympic victory
Kerr took silver while Hocker’s USA teammate Yared Naguse secured a second podium finish for the Americans.
While the race was billed as a showdown between Kerr and the confidently outspoken Ingebrigsten, Hocker played spoiler by becoming the fourth American to win an Olympic gold medal in the 1,500.
‘With 100 meters to go, I knew I had enough,’ Hocker said. ‘I haven’t seen the race replay or anything, but I saw Jakob, I feel like he was thinking about Kerr and started drifting out, and I thought I’d take advantage of that and try to punch that inside, which I’ve been able to do a couple times in my career.
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At the tail end of the race, Hocker breezed past Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigsten for the win
Kerr took silver while Hocker’s USA teammate Yared Naguse secured the bronze medal
‘He’s a smart enough racer where he closed that down immediately, so I had to reassess. It was special to be able to attack not only once, but twice.’
Ingebrigtsen opened an early lead and held it through the first 1,200 meters. From there, Hocker – who was in fourth place with just 300 meters left – put his foot on the gas and took his strides to Olympic glory.
‘[Kerr and Ingebrigtsen] have had all the added pressure and all the added noise,’ Hocker added. ‘I think that’s part of this job is blocking out that noise, and it gets harder and harder the more you excel, and I’m sure that’ll change after today. … I’ve been able to fly under the radar for this meet, but I’m sure I won’t anymore.’
