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Olympic Curler Matt Hamilton Asked People to Shave Their Beards Into Mustaches to Support Team USA. They’re Doing It.

2 minute read
Updated: | Originally published: ;

Olympic athletes are inspiring. They train for years in sometimes-obscure sports. They wear their bodies out. They face extreme odds to make it to the Games. And, when fortune is in their favor, they win, giving us impressive stories of overcoming obstacles and pursuing excellence as we’ve seen many times at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.

Or, if you’re Olympic curler Matt Hamilton, you’re inspiring your newly-found fans with your distinctive facial hair.

A contingency of Hamilton followers have flocked to the “Hamilton Mustache Militia,” sharing pictures online of themselves wearing the American curler’s signature full ‘stache after hearing a call-to-action on Twitter. The hashtag — and facial hair challenge — was kicked off a few days ago by 2010 Olympian Chris Plys, who asked the internet to come together to support the four-man Team Shuster curling crew in their match against Great Britain. Hamilton then egged fans on to continue with their shows of support in advance of the semifinal matchup against Canada, which they won. The U.S. curling team is now headed into a gold-medal round with Sweden, taking place at 1:35 a.m. EST on Feb. 24. And in the meantime, curling fans have plenty of shaving to do and selfies to share.

 

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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com