Aang's body markings from hit Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender inspired the haircut of a 2020 Tokyo Olympics competitor.
Dutch windsurfing Olympian Kiran Badloe shared a photo of his new haircut alongside a picture of the animated character Aang on Instagram. Badloe dyed his hair blue and shaved it into an arrow-shaped mohawk in order to resemble Aang's forehead tattoo. He even posed with a staff to replicate the Avatar protagonist's stance with his glider. "This haircut is a tribute to the one and only true wind master," Badloe wrote of Aang. "The avatar, the last air bender known to be alive. I hope the spirit of this great warrior gives me the power to sail well this week and use the wind in my favor."
Badloe is currently competing for the Netherlands in men's windsurfing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He recently finished first at the ninth of 13 windsurfing races and, at the time of this writing, is ranked first overall. His final race for the gold medal will take place on July 31. The 26-year-old Olympian has previously won gold medals at the RS:X World Championships for men's windsurfing in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Aang's arrow tattoos, which cover his entire body, are a tradition of the Air Nomads to receive once they have mastered all 36tiers of airbending. They derived the design from the markings on the flying bison, such as Aang's partner Appa, who taught the original airbenders advanced techniques. Aang received his body markings at the age of 12, making him the youngest airbender master ever until his granddaughter Jinora mastered airbending at 11 during the events of the sequel series The Legend of Korra.
Aang wasn't the only cartoon character to receive a tribute from an Olympian this year. 2016 Olympic gold medal winner Laurie Hernandez gave a shout-out to She-Ra from She-Ra and the Princess of Power after competing at the 2021 Winter Cup in February. The official NBC Olympics Twitter account shared the clip of the American gymnast reciting She-Ra's battle call, "For the honor of Grayskull!" However, Hernandez didn't qualify to compete at this year's Olympic trials after suffering hyperextension of the knee.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Instagram