Priyanka Goswami slammed for sharing Instagram Reels after finishing 41st at Paris Olympics | Trending

Indian racewalker Priyanka Goswami has copped backlash from a section of the internet for a video which shows her enjoying the AC at the Olympic Village. The 28-year-old athlete finished 41st in the women’s 20km race walk at the Paris Olympics on Thursday. Indian athlete Priyanka Goswami(Instagram/@priyanka___goswami) Finishing 41 out of 45 ended Goswami’s Olympics dream, but it also led to the Uttar Pradesh athlete getting trolled on social media for her ‘subpar’ performance. The backlash was further compounded a now-deleted video which Goswami posted on Instagram Reels. The video showed her replacing the fan provided to athletes at the Olympic Village with an AC. After switching on the AC, Priyanka Goswami was seen getting into bed and falling asleep. The video led to anger on social media where many said that athletes should focus on their sport instead of uploading Reels online. “I think she should Focus more on Sports than making Reels because she is getting trained on Tax Payers money,” wrote X user Veena Jain while sharing Goswami’s video on X. She pointed out that Goswami had trained in Switzerland. Video proves contentious Jain’s post criticising the racewalker has gone viral with over 1.8 million views. While many agreed with her, people also spoke out in support of Priyanka Goswami. A number of X users said that Goswami was already a winner qualifying for the Olympics. She was the only Indian to qualify for the event. “Looks like influencer and not a serious athlete,” wrote one person. “Rather than an athlete she is there just for holidays! So, yes she deserves this trolling,” another said. But plenty more were vocal in their support for Priyanka Goswami, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. “She’s 41st out of 795 crore people in the world. That’s what it takes to become an Olympic athlete. It’s open for everyone, have you tried playing a sport professionally?” asked an X user. “Nonsense ~ she is still first amongst 1.4 billion Indians ~ just mentioning ‘tax’ in context of ‘results’ at Olympic is appalling,” wrote Vivek Wagh. “Point is she’s qualified for Olympics and not any housing society tournament. That itself is a huge achievement. Really sad to see such comments on her,” a third person said. One person asked why Priyanka Goswami had trained in Switzerland – “What kind of special ground does Switzerland have that is not available anywhere else. This is a walking sport?” According to Business Insider, athletes often train at higher altitudes because the thinner air forces their bodies to work harder. This is the reason why many elite athletes train in Switzerland.