Well here's a little sweetness to brighten up your Thursday, Mario has just nabbed the silver medal at the Olympics.
Okay, not quite. Firstly, this isn't Mario; it's Welsh plumber Ruben Duggan, who is jokingly referred to as "Super Mario" by his customers on account of his moustache (and, you know, the plumbing). Secondly, it's not the Olympics — at least, not those ones. This is the WorldSkills competition, known as "the skills Olympics," to those who take part, and it's a pretty big deal.
This year, Duggan took a break from the day job fitting boilers (and rescuing princesses, we assume) in Caerphilly county, to test his plumbing skills on the world stage.
1,500 competitors from around the world headed to Lyon, France, to try their luck in the WorldSkills Competition, which caters for apprentices and students of vocational courses like plumbing, heating, hairdressing and carpentry.
After expertly installing boiler and cylinder pipework, following plans and stomping on Koopas (only two of these were required for the event), Mario Duggan landed second place in the plumbing category, bringing home the silver as Wales' only medal recipient this year. For those wondering, the gold was won by China's Weilong Sun who, to the best of our knowledge, has no connection to a certain blue hedgehog.
"I was shaking when they called my name," Duggan told BBC News, "It still hasn’t sunk in that I'm the second best plumber in the world.”
The 'tache appears to be a new addition for this silver medalist and while we're not suggesting that a visual resemblance to the Nintendo mascot goes hand-in-hand with quality plumbing skills, it clearly doesn't hurt. With great moustache, comes great responsibility... probably.
The next "Skill Olympics" will be heading to Shanghai in 2026, where we can only assume our Mario lookalike will face off against 'Waruben' for the grand prize.
Big congratulations, Ruben! We bet The Odyssey's boiler has never run so well.
[source bbc.co.uk]
Comments 20
This sure is an article about a guy with a moustache
I guess winning was some sort of pipe dream to this man.
Apparently his brother took third but no one seemed to notice or care about him.
@Zaphod42 big Luigi moment...
There's a Luigi joke somewhere to be made here, since he got second instead of first
Since we're most likely not getting more Mario (& Sonic) Olympic games I hope we can get one based on these "Olympics" at least!
Half jokes aside - a game where Mario competes against others in pumbling could actually be pretty fun -, congratulations to Duggan!
I'm sure there's another joke in here somewhere, but I don't want to faucet.
Well that’s cool. I had no idea there was essentially a Plumbing World Cup.
I'm happy for this guy, congrats on the win!🎉
Never heard of this competition before. This is super cool. I will tell my mom so she can tell her clients. Might inspire some folks.
@nessisonett Not surprised you weren’t aware of it. I’ve heard televised viewership has really gone down the drain.
I’ll see myself out now.
@Poodlestargenerica I’ll take this over half of what gets posted in the “Random” category.
Apart from him, did any of those Plumbers Wear Ties? I was told they Don't years ago.
Removed - inappropriate
Inb4 Nintendo sues him for impersonating Mario's mustache.
But that's just a joke, right?
...And now I know there's skill Olympics. I theorized the existence of such a thing, but had no idea.
@Deviant-Dork I usually don't think so either, but they look really cute on Felix and this guy in my eyes! A bit dorky, but that's the charm!
No one knows what you mean now that my comment was removed, for some reason, I guess they only want positive things people one here. Which is incredibly horrible.
@garfreek I can't watch the YouTube for this channel, except for Alex, because of their appearance.
@Deviant-Dork eh, different strokes for different folks I guess!
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