RIO DE JANEIRO — Gold medals are great, but for many viewers of the Rio Olympics, the real high points were the odd, hilarious or unexpected moments beyond the competition, which were shared and amplified by social media.

Even before the 2016 Games began, some of the Olympic housing was called unfit for occupancy, and then the diving pool mysteriously turned from azure blue to bright green. Brazilian police accused four US athletes of making up a story that they were robbed at gunpoint, and some critics cried foul after a Bahamian sprinter dived across the finish line to win gold in the 400m. At least the track seemed to be the right colour: Blue.

Here’s a roundup of some Olympic moments that had social media users talking.

THE INTERNET LUSTS AFTER A TONGAN

The bar for viral Olympic moments was set high (low?) during the opening ceremony, when television commentators breathlessly gawked at Pita Taufatofua, a shirtless and oil-slicked Tongan taekwondo athlete and an aspiring model.

“Wow, look at Tonga.” “Slow that down.” That was commentary by the NBC announcers Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb, who were clearly happy to see Taufatofua as he grinned and strolled into the stadium, carrying his country’s flag. Soon, he was being rubbed by the Today show hosts Matt Lauer and Kotb on a Rio beach.

It set a theme, as news outlets including The New York Times and Cosmopolitan magazine were soon commenting on male Olympians’ physiques.

ONE HOOKUP SCANDAL AND THREE MARRIAGE PROPOSALS

A straight, married reporter from The Daily Beast set off a furor when he used the dating app Grindr to meet gay athletes in Rio for an article on sex at the Olympics. The IOC called it “unacceptable”. Others called the piece a “stunt” and “dangerous” because it included enough details to identify athletes from countries where homosexuality is illegal.

The Daily Beast pulled the reporter from Rio and removed the online article.

But there was true romance in Rio, too. At least three competitors were engaged during the games in proposals seen around the world.

• The Chinese diver He Zi got a ring from her boyfriend, Qin Kai, shortly after she won a silver medal.
• Marjorie Enya, a volunteer worker at the games, walked onto the rugby pitch after a match and proposed to her girlfriend, Isadora Cerullo, a member of the Brazilian women’s rugby team. “As soon as I knew she was in the squad, I thought I have to make this special,” Enya told BBC Sport.
• US athlete Will Claye, who won silver in the men’s triple jump, leapt into the stands afterward to propose to his girlfriend, Queen Harrison, a hurdler who competed in the 2008 Summer Games.

BULLETS AND BANDITS

Brazil welcomed the world with a dazzling opening ceremony at the heavily guarded Maracan stadium. Thousands of security personnel were dispersed throughout Rio, because crime had been a longstanding concern for organisers.

We all know the Ryan Lochte robbery story by now, but here’s what else happened:

• The Olympic security chief was mugged at knife point.
• The athletes’ village was burglarised.
• Two coaches for Australia were attacked and robbed.
• A bus carrying reporters had its windows smashed.
• And bullets landed in the equestrian venue.

SHOULD WE GO INTO THE WATER?

Organisers struggled to explain why the water in two competition pools kept getting greener and murkier, irritating athletes’ eyes.

After numerous explanations, eventually they said someone might have accidentally dumped hydrogen peroxide into the water, neutralising its chlorine and allowing “organic compounds” like algae to bloom.

WEIGHT LIFTER BOOGIES FOR A CAUSE

David Katoatau, a weight lifter from the Pacific island nation Kiribati, charmed viewers by busting a move after dropping his weights. But he had a serious reason: Climate change.

He told reporters the dance moves were meant to raise awareness about the threat that rising sea levels posed to his country, which is composed of 33 coral atolls.

“I want people to know more about us, so I use weight lifting, and my dancing, to show the world,” he told Reuters.

A ‘SMOOTH’ HORSE

There was also a dancing horse, named Lorenzo, which is the kind of thing that makes the Internet swoon.

He was ridden by Severo Jesus Jurado Lopez of Spain in the dressage competition and danced to a version of Smooth, the Grammy Award-winning hit from 1999 by Santana and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty.

The pair did not win a medal, but the Internet did not seem to mind.

ONLINE BULLIES TARGET GABBY DOUGLAS

While her teammates, especially Simone Biles, basked in the glow of fan love, the gymnast Gabby Douglas, a breakout star of the 2012 Olympics in London, became the focus of an all-too-common menace: Poisonous social media.

Douglas, 20, was subjected to racially charged attacks on her hair, her patriotism and her facial expressions, a phenomenon that spawned a flood of think pieces and one teary-eyed interview from the gymnast.

The attacks had her mother, Natalie Hawkins, lamenting to Reuters, “You name it, and she got trampled. What did she ever do to anyone?”

HOW A PROTEST COST TEAM USA US$300

When gymnast Laurie Hernandez, aka “the human emoji”, protested the score on her beam routine, the inquiry cost the US team about US$300 (S$402), reports said.

Coaches, gymnasts or other officials can challenge scores verbally and in writing within a certain time frame and pay a fee — US$100 to US$1,000, depending on the event and how many inquiries are made.

The fee is intended to help cut down on excessive or meritless protests. If the initial score is overturned, the fee is returned to the team.

In Hernandez’s case, the protest was rejected, but she still won the silver.

IS THAT A SMARTPHONE IN YOUR POCKET?

French fencer Enzo Lefort inexplicably kept his smartphone in his pocket while facing off with Peter Joppich of Germany.

Predictably, it fell out and tumbled across the floor as the two men lunged and parried. Lefort did not win the bout, but he was a good sport about the whole thing.

IRISH ROWING CHAMPS CHARM THE INTERNET

Paul and Gary O’Donovan, two brothers who won a silver medal for Ireland in rowing, also had a bit of fun on social media. They became an online hit after they gave a series of laid back interviews.

They celebrated winning out over a British competitor (“Tis great to beat the Brits, as well”), chatted about the “podium pants” they wore at the awards ceremony, said they’d rather be celebrating at the pub in their home village, and attributed their success to their nana’s home cooking.

Not all Irish athletes were so happy-go-lucky. The Irish bantamweight boxer Michael Conlan, who lost his quarterfinal match to Vladimir Nikitin of Russia, unleashed claims of corruption during an expletive-filled rant on TV.

“AIBA cheats,” Conlan said of the International Boxing Association. He said the sport’s officials were “known for being cheats, and they’ll always be cheats”.

(He was not the only fighter crying foul. Gary Russell Sr, the father of US boxer Gary Antuanne Russell, claimed, “He got robbed”, after the younger man lost his fight to Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan.)

AIBA, for its part, acknowledged there were problems with the officiating and judging at some bouts at the games. It then announced the removal of several unnamed referees and judges from the Olympic boxing competition after a review of several of their decisions.

Also not so charming: The head of the Irish and European Olympic committees, Patrick Hickey, was arrested in Rio on Wednesday and accused of plotting to scalp Olympic tickets.

Hickey, 71, a former Irish judo athlete, is suspected of being involved in a scheme to illegally resell about 1,000 tickets at steep prices. During his arrest at an oceanfront hotel, he fell ill and was taken to the hospital by ambulance, an Olympic spokesman said. He was charged with ticket touting, forming a cartel and illicit marketing, and a statement Wednesday from the Olympic Council of Ireland said he would “step aside temporarily” until the matter was resolved.

GERMAN TWINS INFURIATE THE HOMELAND

As they crossed the finish line in the women’s marathon, Anna and Lisa Hahner joined hands. Depending on your point of view, it was either a touching sign of sisterly bonding or a publicity stunt.
German track and field officials declared it to be the latter.

The runners were accused of treating the event “like a fun run”.

WHY DID THE OLYMPIAN FLIP THE BIRD?

Canadian swimmer Santo Condorelli, 21, has a strange ritual to build his confidence before each race: He flips his father his middle finger.

His father told The Daily News the routine started when he began doing it to Condorelli when he was a child as a motivational tool.

Now, the Canadian Olympic team website elaborated, Condorelli “always signals to his parents from the pool deck with his middle finger and splashes himself twice with pool water”.

A SELFIE BRIDGES A DIVIDE

Lee Eun-ju, 17, was a last-minute replacement on South Korea’s gymnastics team and did not advance to the finals.

But she was hailed as an example of the Olympic spirit even before the games started after she approached a North Korean gymnast, Hong Un Jong, 27, during a training session and snapped a selfie.
A South Korean news report called Lee an “an Olympic icon”.

THE ‘VICTORY TAX’

Finally, winning can be costly. The US Olympic Committee gives bonuses to athletes who win gold (US$25,000), silver (US$15,000) or bronze (US$10,000) medals.

That money is, of course, taxed, with those in the top tier being hit with a 39.6 per cent tax bracket (US$9,900 for a gold medal bonus, US$5,940 for silver and US$3,960 for bronze, according to Americans for Tax Reform).

So Michael Phelps, who won five gold medals and one silver medal in Rio, could owe the IRS up to US$55,000 of his winnings. NEW YORK TIMES