Budapest has played host to the 2023 World Athletics Championship for the past eight days. It's been a fantastic event with plenty of memorable moments. Sha'Carri Richardson made her blazing return to the top of women's running with an amazing 100m victory. Meanwhile, two friends chose to split the gold medal in the women's pole vault. However, one person who has been getting people very excited is Yulina Levchenko. The Ukrainian high jumper went viral on August 25 for her blonde hair, passing resemblance to Barbie's Margot Robbie, and the World Athletic's social media manager's desire to jump on a major trend.
"High jump Barbie, Ukraine’s Yuliya Levchenko," the account captioned a video of one of Levchenko's jumps during qualification. To really hammer the message home, the account added a sped-up version of Dua Lipa's "Dance The Night" from the Barbie soundtrack. The clip, which has now been viewed nearly 1 million times, turned Levchenko into an immediate viral sensation. However, sadly for her newfound fan base, Levchenko finished 17th, losing out on qualification for the 12-women final on a tiebreaker. Levchenko earned silver at the 2017 World Championships but has not medalled internationally since the 2019 European Indoor Championships. Her Ukranian compatriot, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, would win gold on August 27.
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Social Media Goes Wild For "High Jump Barbie"
A lot of thirst can be found for Levchenko in the comments of the original TikTok. "I would fight for Ukraine in her honor," remarks one user. In fact a lot of the comments refer Levchenko's nationality and the ongoing invasion by Russia. What's worrying is a lot of the comments are themed around the idea of "Guess I support Ukraine now," which okay? Weird you weren't before but moving on. However, there are some solid Barbie-themed jokes to be found as well. "This Barbie is an athlete," writes one user. "Her job is jump," adds another.
However, the comment that caught everyone's eye came from a surprising source. "Cuteness overload," wrote YouTube megastar MrBeast. MrBeast recently did a video in which he hosted his own "Olympics" so no wonder that is FYP is international athletics now. However, he received a significant amount of backlash for the comment. Primarily, the backlash was a result of "Cuteness overload" being an exceptionally cringy and creepy thing to write. One user replied to the comment saying it gave them "where's my hug" energy.
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