Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov won a gold medal in men’s figure skating. But somehow, that might not be his biggest highlight from Milano Cortina.
In the exhibition gala on Saturday, Shaidorov went all out in his homage to the 2008 movie ‘Kung Fu Panda’ — taking to the ice in a full-body panda suit. The 21-year-old bowed to the audience, ran and spun in the air as the opening notes to the song, ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ began to play.
Fully committing to the martial arts bit, Shaidorov dueled with Deadpool and Sub Zero, initially fighting them off before they came back to beat him up.
As he laid on the ground, Tenacious D’s cover of the Britney Spears hit, ‘…Baby One More Time’ started to play. Shaidorov took off his robe, rose back up to his feet and continued his routine. He finished off with a triple, a pirouette, a cartwheel and a leg kick before collapsing to the ground to a standing ovation.
‘This was super silly,’ one of the commentators on the Peacock broadcast said. ‘But lots and lots of fun.’