Olympic Medalist Reflects on Controversial Twerk Moment

Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman took home the bronze medal at the Olympics in Paris , bringing the first women's pole vault medal to the Great White North and shattering a Canadian record in the process. Newman's celebration dance after her record-breaking vault made headlines, but Newman shrugs off any criticism people might have.

The 30-year-old athlete told her side of the story in a new interview with The New York Post .

"A lot of people think I broke out in the dance because of the bronze medal, but again, I didn’t know I had bronze, Angelica [Moser] from Switzerland still had another attempt, she could have easily taken my spot," Newman explained. "If you know me for these many years, I’ve always celebrated after a Canadian record. So I had just jumped with the 4.85 [meter] jump, I jumped a Canadian record, and in the past, at every single competition I’ve ever jumped, I’ve backflipped, I’ve danced, I’ve done any sort of thing that comes out naturally."

Newman's dance, which she confessed likely didn't rise to the level of twerking, came after she poked fun at her past injuries by hobbling on the track at the Stade de France.

"I think for me to have faked an injury and then danced after, obviously everyone called it a twerk , but I’m laughing cause I probably didn’t do a great twerking compared to some of the women and men that can do it better than me, but it just came out with more of the faking of the injury was more of the plan, rather than the actual twerking, so I laugh because, obviously, it got out there and I’m more than fortunate that people got to see another side of me," she confessed.

Anyone hoping that the dance was a sneak peek of what Newman offers on her OnlyFans will be disappointed. She started her account back in 2021 to document her Olympic experience as the Games had no spectators due to COVID precautions. It soon turned into a place to connect with fans on a personal level.

"Originally, I was just going to do it for an Olympics and do a 16-day behind-the-scenes at the Olympic Village ,” Newman said. "It just blew up so I just kept with it, kept going with it through the years, and just doing what I felt comfortable with: Going live at my practices, showing workout routines, my abs—a lot of people want ab workouts —[and] the nutrition programs."

As for anyone deriding her for her presence on the site or for her Olympic dance, Newman brushes it off.

"I’ve always been one to be raised on never judge a book by its cover," she said. "People do what they do because they have to live, we have to pay bills and we have to do what we have to do, and so, I’m very, very thankful that I have pretty strong mental [health] and pretty thick skin to let the noise that’s negative stay in its bubble."

"I was telling my mom, she was like, 'You would have done that in front of four people at home or a hundred thousand people, that is just you,' so we were laughing pretty hard that it blew out of proportion into what was actually the key moment, [which] was bringing home a medal for my country," she concluded.

Time will tell if Newman will go for glory again at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles .