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Olympics fans can't believe their eyes as Chinese swimmer Tang Qianting provides bizarre on-camera optical illusion
Olympics fans were shocked when Chinese swimmer Tang Qianting entered the pool arena on Monday with an incredibly 'snatched' waist.
Qianting's 'impossible' shape left baffled, but it was nothing more than a bizarre on-camera optical illusion caused by her suit and the arena.
The sides of her two-toned blue-and-teal Speedo bathing suit blended almost perfectly with the background wall.
IMPOSSIBLY THIN: Olympics fans were shocked when Chinese swimmer Tang Qianting entered the pool arena on Monday with an incredibly 'snatched' waist
It created an optical illusion that gave her a cinched waist that appeared to be only a few inches wide.
This type of fashion design was a trend that started in the 1960s using geometric patterns and contrasting and vibrant colors to make the wearer appear smaller.
Qianting - the reigning 100-meter breaststroke world champion - took home the silver medal with a time of 1:05.54 on Monday, but all eyes were on her waistline.
In a video posted to TikTok, Qianting stepped up to the edge of the pool and the edges of her two-toned swimsuit blended perfectly into the blue backdrop.
The video, which was viewed more than 7.1 million times, was simply captioned ‘she’s snatched’ as delighted social media viewers admired the swimmer’s curvature.
People joked in the comments section, called the video ‘the Ozempic games’ in reference to the diabetic medication that can also be used for weight loss while another person wrote: ‘Okay Kim Kardashian Met Gala 2024!!!’
The swimsuit created the optical illusion by using vibrant, contrasting colors that were strategically designed along the waistline.
The trend is believed to have been inspired by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian whose paintings in the early 1900s featured similar geometric shapes.
Now known as the ‘father of abstraction,’ his artistic designs were brought to the world of fashion by Yves Saint-Laurent in 1965.
Olympic swimmer Tang Qianting (pictured) shocked fans with her teal and blue swimsuit that appeared to give her a 'snatched' waist
The swimsuit created an optical illusion that caused viewers to see a different visual than the reality by using geometric patterns and vibrant, contrasting colors
This color-blocking technique uses a geometric pattern, typically in the shape of an hourglass, which appears to change the person’s silhouette and creates a focal point to a certain area - in Qianting’s case, the waistline - so your eyes block out everything else.
This is because the brain doesn't actually look at an image in its entirety, but instead takes shortcuts, skipping over some aspects so you can process the information faster.
In 2011, researchers from the University of Glasgow, found that when something is unclear to the eye, the mind will predict what it's going to see and fill in the blanks.
'Effectively, our brains construct an incredibly complex jigsaw puzzle using any pieces it can get access to,' explained researcher Fraser Smith.
'These are provided by the context in which we see them, our memories, and our other senses.'
'Sometimes the brain's guess can be so convincing that we see visual illusions,' Smith's co-author, Lars Muckli, from the University's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, added.
'The brain's main function is to minimize surprise – that is what it has evolved to do.'