Fans watching the Tokyo Olympic Games from home were left very confused and slightly concerned after a coach was seen slapping his athlete on the sidelines.
Judo star Martyna Trajdos was preparing to take on Hungarian opponent Szofi Ozbas in the Round of 32 in the women's 63kg category when she received a pre-bout pep talk from her instructor.
But it appears this pep 'talk' didn't actually include much talking at all.
Clearly attempting to fire his student up ahead of the match-up, Ozbas' coach grabbed her by the gi and swung her back and forth before slapping her twice around the chops.
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The damning footage didn't make for particularly pleasant viewing and quickly made its way onto social media.
Fans wasted no time in questioning the coach for his, shall we say, 'hands on' motivational methods.
One social media user tweeted: "There is context. There must be context. *whispers: what is the context?*"
While another simply said: "What the..."
However, German star Trajdos herself was quick to defend her coach and made light of the unorthodox routine.
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"Look's like this was not hard enough," she joked.
"I wish I could have made a different headline today.
"As I already said that's the ritual which I chose pre competition.
"My coach is just doing what I want him to do to fire me up."
Featured Image Credit: TwitterTopics: olympics, Tokyo Olympics, Video, watch, Australia
