TOKYO, Japan — Wrestler David Taylor provided one of the most sensational moments of the Olympics on Thursday when he just about literally snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, earning gold in the 86kg weight class.
Trailing 3-2 on points with just seconds left in the gold medal match against Iran's Hassan Yazdani, Taylor pulled off a double leg takedown to score two points and win the match, 4-3.
It was a performance worthy of his nickname, "Magic Man."
Where exactly did that nickname come from, anyway?
According to the official Olympics website, it comes from comedian John C. Reilly.
Specifically, it comes from his character Cal Naughton Jr. in the movie, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
In that film, Naughton and Will Ferrell's "Ricky Bobby" character are a dynamic NASCAR racing duo, nicknamed "Shake and Bake." But when sidekick Naughton sets his sights on being a solo star, he tells Ricky Bobby he's got a new nickname: "The Magic Man."
"Now you see me, now you don't," Naughton says.
Ricky Bobby tells him it's "the stupidest nickname I've ever heard."
"Is it Ricky? Because I think you wish you thought of it," Naughton replies.
Ricky admits: "Alright you got me that's an awesome nickname."
An awesome nickname, and now an Olympic champion nickname.
According to the Olympics site, the nickname stuck through Taylor's time at Penn State and then into his pro career because of how frequently he would pull off "magic" to win a match he'd been losing.
The NBC announcers during Thursday's match, said he'd now fully earned the "Magic Man" nickname, because he'd not only "stolen it" in fantastic fashion - but done so in the biggest match of his life.