Femke Bol was the hero for the Netherlands in the 4×400 mixed relay at the Olympics on Saturday. Bol’s anchor leg made up an incredible amount of ground on Team USA as she just passed Kaylyn Brown at the line to win the gold medal for her country.
Bol’s sprinting heroics had to be seen to be believed on the final lap of the relay as she was well back in third place rounding the final corner before an epic sprint to the line.
Femke Bol is UNREAL. 😲
She takes GOLD for the Netherlands in the mixed 4x400m relay with a STELLAR 47.93s anchor leg. #ParisOlympics
📺: NBC, USA Network & Peacock pic.twitter.com/44cnSwomUt
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2024
After the race Bol suddenly became a household name with scores of people going online to find out more about her. That led to a post-race interview of Bol’s going viral. Except the interview wasn’t from the Paris Olympics and winning the mixed relay, it was actually from earlier this year after Bol set the indoor world record in the 400 meters at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Why did the interview with Bol go viral? Because of her unbelievably high pitched voice.
Femke “Mickey Mouse Voice” Bol has broken the national 400m indoor record. pic.twitter.com/c9RgyY8MNo
— Funny Bebo (@myfunnybebo) March 3, 2024
A natural reaction to the video is asking, “that’s not her real voice, right?” And the answer is no, it’s not.
As you can see clearly in this video from a couple months ago not in the heat of competition, Bol’s voice hits a much more normal octave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlFFxYNFJgc
But as you can see in these interviews which happened soon after races, Bol also has her high pitched voice after sprinting her lungs out. It makes sense when you think about it that way.
Femke Bol is one of the premier athletes of her generation but I can’t get over that squeaky voice 😭 pic.twitter.com/tgdQyedb6f
— Kristoff Darian Samm (@kristoffsamm) August 4, 2024
🗣️ “It’s a sprint, and you have to give it your all…you need to dig super deep in a race to get a good time ”
Femke Bol digs deep to run 52.30 in the 400m hurdles – a new meet record and WORLD LEAD 🚀
FULL INTERVIEW ⤵️https://t.co/OVWJSD71CT pic.twitter.com/0TfWLvjaC7
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) June 15, 2023
So there you go, the evidence that “post-race voice” was a thing and that Femke Bol’s voice is incredibly normal in real life. And honestly, when you’re that good of a sprinter, you should be able to speak in dog whistle and still sound cool.
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