First Lady Michelle Obama had no defence against Olympic wrestler Elena Pirozhkova who decided to pick her up and parade her in front of her fellow athletes.
There was no coercion involved in the hilarious encounter as Michelle Obama was happy to let Elena Pirozhkova show off her strength at the meet-and-greet on Friday.
However, the experienced globe-trotter did seem “nervous” when she was being held by the Olympic hopeful, according to Elena Pirozhkova.
Michelle Obama met the wrestlers along with other members of Team USA during a visit to the team’s training camp ahead of the opening ceremony.
During the event at the University of East London, she spoke to 25-year-old Elena Pirozhkova – who had an unusual request for her.
“Even before she made the rounds I thought I can’t just hug her like everybody else,” she said, according to USA Today.
“I hugged her, and then I asked her if I could pick her up. I think she was nervous. I went slow. I just picked her up.
“I wanted to ask her permission. There was security all around. And she gave it. I will only meet her once. I wanted to do something different.”
Her teammate Clarissa Chun captured a photograph of the heart-warming moment and tweeted it with the caption: “Elena picked up the First Lady.”
Elena Pirozhkova, who is 5 foot 5 and around 138 lbs, was born in Russia but moved to Massachusetts at the age of three.
The highlight of her career so far came in the land of her birth, where she won a silver medal at the 2010 World Championships.
