Jason Kelce went head-to-head — or arm-to-arm — against an Olympian.
While attending the 2024 Paris Olympics, the retired NFL star, 36, was challenged to an arm wrestle by Team USA rugby star Nicole Heavirland. The Olympian, 29, shared a video of the competition via Instagram on Sunday, July 28, in which her teammates cheered her on to beat Kelce.
Despite the encouragement, Heavirland ultimately lost to Kelce after putting up quite the fight. The two athletes shared smiles and a friendly handshake, but Heavirland couldn’t resist poking fun at Kelce.
“@jason.kelce holding on to that table a little bit? 🤣,” she wrote alongside the clip. Kelce responded in the comments section, writing, “Holding onto something with your off hand is completely within the rules of the International Federation of Arm Wrestling.”
Jason’s wife, Kylie Kelce, chimed in with a hilarious comment of her own, adding, “I tried to warn you!”
Team USA’s official Instagram account wrote that their “jaws [were] dropped at this content,” while another user wrote, “Jason Kelce to suit up for @usarugby next season, who says no? 👀.”
While Heavirland sported her Team USA gear for the arm wrestling match, Jason got into the patriotic spirit by wearing a pair of American flag shorts and a navy beret. Jason has rocked his French hat while attending multiple Olympic events with Kylie, 31, including the U.S. women’s rugby team’s first two matches. The athletes began their Olympics journey on a high note with back-to-back wins against Japan and Brazil on Sunday. They are set to face off against France, the Games’ host country, on Monday, July 29.
“Just a bunch of Eagles 🦅,” USA Rugby’s official Instagram page captioned a pic of Jason and Kylie at Sunday’s game.
After the match, player Ilona Maher hilariously recruited Kelce to be the team’s No. 1 celebrity fan in a sweet Instagram video. “Women’s water polo has Flava Flav as their super fan. And you are a girl dad,” Maher, 27, told Kelce before clarifying that the role would come with no money, benefits or free merch. “But if you just wanna be our super fan, you can just even say, ‘I’m a fan.’” (Jason and Kylie share daughters Wyatt, 4, Ellie, 3, and Bennett, 17 months.)
Looking into the camera, Jason declared, “I am officially a fan of women’s rugby, Olympics.” Maher celebrated by exclaiming, “We got Jason Kelce!” as her teammates cheered.
In an interview with the Associated Press published on Saturday, July 27, said he and Kylie jumped at the chance to go to the Olympics, where they also supported Team USA in field hockey. “We love sports, we love competition, we love world events,” he shared. “This is such a unique place where the entire world gets to come together and bond over competition and sports.”
Kylie, for her part, told the outlet she had “always wanted” to go to the Olympics, adding that she and her husband were “happy to be here.”
