At the time, the then 24-year-old and his team-mates Scott Gault, Charles Cole, and Glenn Ochal were enjoying their moment on the podium for the coxless four event when the outline of an apparent erection under Rummel's snug shorts became a hot topic on social media. And it's not the only time aquatic sports stars costumes have caused uproar.
However, Rummel, keen to clarify things and douse the viral speculations, told Cosmopolitan: "I took it kind of tongue-in-cheek and I thought it was hilarious, but my wife didn't like it."
She wasnt too pleased that the incident overshadowed his Olympic achievement itself. His family also had a tough time with the unwanted attention.
He said: "She didn't like that everyone was talking about that and not about me winning a medal at the Olympics. And the same thing with my parents, they couldn't avoid it at the time, and it's not something that I am happy they had to go through."
Rummel was compelled to address the situation on Reddit after a post claiming that a US rower appeared overly enthusiastic about his bronze medal garnered nearly 1,000 comments.
The rower in question, Rummel, chimed in to vehemently deny that he had an erection during the medal ceremony.
Posting under his username Rummelator, he explained: "This is me and I swear it's not erect! I don't know why it ended up in that position but there you go".
Rummel, a two-time Olympian, had previously won a medal in 2012 and went on to compete in the 2016 Games in Brazil, where the US Rowing team finished seventh in the coxless four event,.
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