Tuesday, August 31, 2010

podium posing like the pros

two weekends ago, i got to see how the real pro men do podium poses, at the elite state track championship.

podium shots aren't just about looking good for the pictures, but they are also about making a statement.

and roman kilun had a couple of statements to make.

the last race of the day was the madison and roman had a few things he wanted to make clear.

shot #1:
the superhero stance. also known as, you might be bigger than me, but i am better than you.

sometimes roadies come to the track, and they feel a bit....uh... skinny? their upper body is puny and their quads are small. in such situations, roadies can feel a bit more beefy and secure by asserting their presence by taking up physical space. this is done best by assuming a super hero stance, with wide stance and arms on hip. roman displays this perfectly on the podium.

as you can see, everyone on steps two and three is looking off into the distance, averting eye contact, smiling awkwardly, and pretending they don't care that they got lapped.

also, by standing near the front of the podium in a wide stance, he makes it clear to the world that the only reason the lap was taken was because of him. as you can see, his partner just stands squeamishly in the background and waves his hand in the air as if saying: "hey mom, i was there too!"

shot #2:


roman also shows in this second podium shot for the madison, that he is.... well, honestly, i am not sure what to make of it. let me think...

no, i don't think that is roman's style.... really, i think it was more along the lines of this...

"It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A. You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal...."

seems a bit odd, but roman is getting married soon, so perhaps he was doing a little bit of practice for the reception...?

it would have been really cool if he could have snuck in a fireman's hat- but maybe he is saving that one for the national championship. he is doing the team pursuit there, so let's hope that dr. kay can get the rest of roman's teammates to show up on the podium in full-on village people garb.

4 comments:

Merkeley Bike said...

Who's the short guy next to Roman? :)

Garrett Lau said...

That's a great observation about pose #1, but I have a different interpretation of pose #2. His hands are angled more like this:
http://www.bo.infn.it/atlas_rpc/images/atlas2.jpg

Except, as you noted, his quads aren't that big.

Martina also angles her hands upwards when posing on the podium. They can hold up the sky together.

ROman KIlun said...

"They can hold up the sky together"
That is a quote I will remember forever. Thanks for the awesome post Beth, I hope you're feeling better from your crash. See you at Nats.

RRK

Host Pay Per Head said...

I didn't know that there were something important in the way that pose in the podium. but it looks like.