Hard to watch! Paralympic champion given the worst gifts ever
A Spanish Paralympic cyclist has been given the worst trophy gifts in history, with his calm and collected reaction making waves online.
Ricardo Ten Argiles was last week crowned world champion in three separate events at the 2023 UCI World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
During the post race ceremonies, he was presented with two gold medals, along with two very surprising gifts from the event's major sponsor: international watch company Tissot.
The 47-year-old was gifted not one, but TWO watches in a fancy display case, despite having both his arms amputated at the forearm.
A video of Ten keeping a straight face while being handed one of the watches has started to spread across the internet with more than 800,000 views.
One video shows Ten standing on the podium and exchanging some friendly words with an official as he holds the watch case tightly between his arms.
Understandably, the mortifying moment has been met with outrage and black humour.
The athlete himself has been laughing off the incident and has embraced the way his social media pages have exploded with comments.
Many of the comments suggested that Ten regift the expensive watches at Christmas, while others wondered how officials at the event could've let the awkward gifts happen.
Despite the outrage from fans, Ten responded to one news story about the “tactless blunder” by writing on Twitter, “I am very happy to have won two TISSOTs, one for each arm, but above all for what it means for Paralympic cycling, total inclusion of the sport at the highest level”.
Image credits: Twitter