US swimmer Ryan Held couldn’t stop crying at the medal ceremony

RYAN Held must know how Justin Bieber feels. While receiving his gold, he made women around the world fall in love with him.

Everyone else was laughing at Held’s expense.

RYAN Held must know how Justin Bieber feels.

Not in regards to the whole “con your way into earning millions of dollars for producing s*** music” thing, though. We’re thinking more along the lines of the “somehow convincing a large chunk of the female population to fall in love with you” variety.

The swimmer won a gold medal with the American men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team on Monday afternoon (AEST) as he — along with Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel — touched the wall ahead of France and Australia in the final event of the day.

That capped off a day of tears in Rio. Aussie Emma McKeon fought them off after a disappointing swim in the 100m butterfly final, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro couldn’t control themselves after the Argentine beat the Serb in their round one match and German gymnast Andreas Toba “cried like a little kid”.

Well, Held cried like a little kid who’d just been told Santa Claus didn’t exist, nobody wanted to come to his birthday party and he’d be having Brussels sprouts instead of ice cream for dessert. Oh, and like he’d found out his older brother was his parents’ favourite.

Check out what we mean.

Tears of joy. We hope.

It was funny for everyone else.

Brothers in arms.

While his teammates laughed, he found solace in the arms of Olympic veteran Phelps.

The women of the world loved it.

Apparently there’s nothing they love more than a grown man not afraid to show his emotions.

They say living in the Olympic Village is like a giant party where athletes often, erm, “appreciate” each other’s bodies. Judging by the response Held (or more accurately, his tears) got, he stands every chance at being “appreciated” more than most by the opposite sex.

Just type his name into Twitter and you’ll understand what we’re talking about.

Ryan Held straight bawling on the medal stand is making my heart swell....

— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) August 8, 2016

Ryan Held receiving his first Olympic medal (gold I might add) is probably one of the most adorable things I've seen on tv #USAswimming

— Nicole Cullen (@ncullen97) August 8, 2016

Dear Ryan Held, You are adorable, specially crying with the Stars Spangled Banner. #RyanHeld #Rio2016 #DreamTeam

— Vickiel Garcia (@VickielGR) August 8, 2016

To be honest I just want to watch the video of Ryan Held crying on the podium over and over

— Georgia Pham (@ItsmeGAforshort) August 8, 2016

So Ryan Held is the name of my future husband...good to know...

— Kerri Guillette (@KerrBearkru) August 8, 2016

Ryan Held breaking down on the gold medal podium was incredibly sweet. #Olympics

— Stephanie Lucianovic (@grubreport) August 8, 2016

Ryan Held is literally too precious pic.twitter.com/y73JevJgqx

— jessi murray (@_JessiConn) August 8, 2016

We’re not judging Held in the slightest. It must be overwhelming to win gold after four years of dedication and sacrifice — that’s what makes the Olympics so special.

In sport athletes often trot out the same old cliches, but the sheer outpouring of emotion you get at the Games is something you just don’t see anywhere else, and it’s fantastic.

Ryan, if next time you step into a bar you find men everywhere pretending to cry while talking to women, you’ll know where they learnt that pick-up technique. Just make sure they buy you a beer for improving their love lives.