October 2, 2025 • 16 mins
Chants turn fans from spectators into living sports soundtracks. This episode explores the surpising origins behind 3 iconic chants: "I Believe That We Will Win," "Olé, Olé, Olé,” and Iceland's Viking Thunderclap.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Humans have been around for a while, and since the
earliest days of our existence as a species, one universal
tradition has remained relatively unchanged, and that is chanting. When
you have a ton of people gathered together for an event,
it's almost inevitable that they'll eventually start saying or speaking
words in unison. The practice of Vedic chanting a ka
(00:53):
reciting the ancient hymns of the Vedas, the most sacred
and ancient scriptures of Hinduism, has been used to pass
on that religious knowledge through hundreds of generations. The ancient
Greeks were known for singing paeans before battles, calling on
their gods for help, while the ancient Romans were known
for their litany of marching songs to keep tempo and
(01:15):
battle cries to inspire bravery. When looking through history, it's
clear that religion and war have been the two most
prolific producers of human chants. Medieval pilgrims sang hymns on
their long journeys, and thousands of other religions used chants
to worship, inspire, and pray. Likewise, thousands of military groups
(01:35):
have adopted battle chants, mottos, and marching songs as part
of their core identities. These chants or sounds have an
almost mystical power to bind individuals together around a shared
purpose or goal. Around the turn of the twentieth century,
sports joined war and religion as one of the main
creators of new chants, and while sports lag behind war
(01:59):
and relige in terms of what's at stake, they also
kind of combine aspects of the two. It's impossible to
hear the way some people talk about sports teams without
drawing similarities to religion. For some, their team is their religion,
tuning in every week like a ritual and often on
Sundays to watch them play. And when two teams play
(02:22):
one another, especially in more physical sports, it's hard not
to feel like it's a battle between two warring sides,
just with jerseys instead of armor and javelins. All this
to say, crowds of people love to chant things together
because that in unison, yelling turns a group of a
thousand individuals into one singular unit. It's the perfect example
(02:47):
of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
So on today's Quick Hits episode, I'll be exploring the
interesting origins behind some of sports most iconic crowd chants,
ranging from a US Navy prep school to bullfighting rings
in Spain. I'm willgatchel. This is sports dot MP three
(03:08):
and let's get into it. In the world of sports,
(03:42):
it's important to believe that you can win, and that's
exactly the premise of the first chant we'll be covering.
In nineteen ninety eight, a student from the Naval Academy
Preparatory School in Annapolis, Maryland, named j Rodriguez was tasked
with creating a chant that Splittoon would use during an
upcoming basketball game against the United States Military Academy Preparatory School.
(04:07):
His final creation was a work of genius. It was
simple and easy to follow, yet oddly dynamic. Part of
(04:37):
its effectiveness, without a doubt, is that you don't even
need to know the chant to chant it. One person
leads off and everyone else just repeats what that person says,
and the whole time the chance power builds up until
it peaks with the final line, I believe that we
will win. A year after debuting the chant, Jay Rodriguez
(04:58):
had graduated the prep school was now a full time
student at the Naval Academy. It was there that he
taught the chant to a classmate, Corey Strong, who was
also a cheerleader for the school's football team, and that
small choice would lead to massive changes. During the nineteen
ninety nine Army Navy football game, Corey Strong started the
(05:20):
chant in the fourth quarter and the four thousand student
brigade of midshipmen joined in enthusiastically. Navy won the game
nineteen to nine, although they would go three and thirty
over the next three years, meaning there were not many
opportunities to break out the chant. When the team finally
(05:41):
improved in the two thousand and three season, Navy began
producing T shirts with the phrase plastered on them, and
the student section now breaks out the chant towards the
end of every victory. Over the following years, other college
teams also began adopting it, including the Utah State Aggis
men's basketball team, and the student sections of San Diego
(06:02):
State University and Harvard. In twenty eleven, Justin Brunken, co
founder of the American Outlaws, which are a massive US
soccer supporters group, heard the chant for the first time
during a US game in Kansas City, and it quickly
spread through the ranks of the country's soccer fanatics. Justin
(06:22):
later described why it was so popular. Quote, it resonated
with the crowds across the country and became synonymous with
what we believe in end quote. Before long, it was
the unofficial chant of the United States' national soccer teams,
appearing in two commercials promoting the twenty fourteen FIFA World
Cup and being slightly altered by US women's team forward
(06:45):
Abby Wombach, who during the twenty fifteen Women's World Cup
victory parade led the chant as I believe that we
just won. Part of the chants staying power, in addition
to a requiring almost zero prior non college, is how
applicable it is to well, any team or group that's
about to win. It doesn't specifically cater towards one sport, team, location,
(07:09):
or even time period, which explains how it started out
as a simple prep school basketball chant spread to hundreds
of other teams across sports, and was even sampled in
a twenty twenty Pit Bull song about COVID nineteen. If
you're curious, No, the song isn't that good. And I
say that as someone who appreciates the music of mister Worldwide.
(07:32):
All Right, let's get on to chant number two. I
(07:55):
don't speak Spanish, but I have indulged in my fair
share of ole olay chance. The sound is almost universal.
Even if you don't know what it means, you can
understand that the people channing it are cheering something or
someone on. In truth, olay is a Spanish interjection originally
(08:16):
used to praise or cheer on bullfighters aka mattadors and
flamenco dancers. Oftentimes, each successive move from a mattador or
dancer would earn an olay, and another, and another and
so on. The interjection has been used in various chants
and songs throughout the nineteen hundreds, but it didn't become
(08:37):
the world renowned chant it is today until the nineteen eighties.
And that's all thanks to two Belgians, music producer Roland
Verluven and singer grand Jojo also known as Jules Jean
von Obergen apologies for that pronunciation. The two were asked
to write a song celebrating Belgian's soccer team r SC
(09:01):
Anderlecht becoming league champions in nineteen eighty five, and they
did as instructed, recording a song called quote Anderlecht Champion
end quote. In both French and Dutch versions, the song's
chorus included the line lay alay, lay alay, we are
the champions, We are the champions, the lay in this
(09:24):
instance being the French A L l e z, not
the Spanish ol e. With the FIFA World Cup set
to take place in Mexico the following year, Grand Jojo
was asked to create a Mariachi influenced version of the
song in support of the Belgium national team, and he
(09:44):
did just that, replacing the chorus with olay olay, olay
olay with an ol e. This version of the song stuck,
with various other slightly altered versions releasing over the next
few years, including the most popular current iteration of the song,
which is called olay olay olay, the name of the game,
(10:05):
and was sung by a group called The Fans and
produced by Roland ver Luvin, the same man who created
the original Intellect Champion version with grand Jojo. Now, unlike
I believe that we will win, this olay chant has
more than one meaning. While it can be used as
a celebratory chant, it's also used to mock opposing teams,
(10:29):
which I guess is technically still celebration, but you know
what I mean. In Europe, fans of the winning team
will often yell olay sarcastically mocking the losing team after
every single pass or shot attempt. And to give an
idea of just how far reaching this olay chant has become,
(10:49):
its spread from bullfighting and soccer to hockey arenas and
rugby fields, becoming a popular chant for both the NHLs
Montreal Canadians and and the Welsh rugby Union. And with
(11:14):
that chant explained, we have one more to go, although
it's technically more of a clap than a chant, sort of.
(11:43):
In twenty sixteen, Iceland's population was around three hundred thirty
five thousand, five hundred people and England's was approximately fifty
five million, meaning that for every one person in Iceland,
there were one hundred and sixty four in England. I
(12:03):
bring this up to highlight just how shocking it was
when Iceland's national soccer team knocked England's out of the
round of sixteen during the twenty sixteen UWEFA European Championship.
The unprecedented underdog victory earned massive headlines around the world,
and all of this media attention allowed everyone to witness
(12:24):
one of the best crowd chants in sports, the Iceland
fans iconic thunderclap. You can't see it, but you can
(13:12):
picture it. Thousands of fans with their hands raised straight
in the air, clapping in unison and screaming huh, incrementally
speeding up the claps until it reaches a deafening peak
of intensity. The chant obviously went viral, with many calling
it the Viking thunderclap and tons of fan bases from
(13:34):
a variety of sports adopting their own versions of it.
And while it seems like the entire chant had to
have some sort of ancient Viking war ritual origin, the
truth is actually a lot more tame. Only two years
before their incredible Uro twenty sixteen run, the chant wasn't
used at all in Iceland. In twenty fourteen, an Iceland
(13:58):
soccer team whose name I dare not attempt to pronounce,
played against a Scottish team called Motherwell FC. The Scottish
fans ultimately broke out a thunderclap chant at some point
during the match, and it was apparently so cool that
the onlooking Icelanders decided to adopt it as their own.
(14:19):
From there, it soon made its way to the Iceland
national team, who then shared it with the rest of
the world thanks to the Euros. And just to add
another twist, MOTHERWELLFC doesn't officially claim to be the original
creator of the chant. Its true origin, according to anything
I could find, remains somewhat of a mystery, which is
(14:41):
somewhat fitting because the chant is, to some extent just
really fun to do, even if you're a fan of
an opposing team. There have been several instances, in fact,
where rival fans have joined Icelandic soccer team fans enacting
the thunderclap, and you can't really blame them. Plus, on
the topic of fitting, one American sports team has adopted
(15:04):
the chant as their official battlecry, and that is, if
you haven't guessed yet, the Minnesota Vikings, and that folks
does it. For today's quick Hits episode of Sports Dot
MP three, thank you so much for listening. Once again,
I'm Will Gatchel and I hope you learned something new.
As always, I'll be back next week with a new episode.
(15:27):
Peace after known to say them Dago
Humans have been around for a while, and since the
earliest days of our existence as a species, one universal
tradition has remained relatively unchanged, and that is chanting. When
you have a ton of people gathered together for an event,
it's almost inevitable that they'll eventually start saying or speaking
words in unison. The practice of Vedic chanting a ka
(00:53):
reciting the ancient hymns of the Vedas, the most sacred
and ancient scriptures of Hinduism, has been used to pass
on that religious knowledge through hundreds of generations. The ancient
Greeks were known for singing paeans before battles, calling on
their gods for help, while the ancient Romans were known
for their litany of marching songs to keep tempo and
(01:15):
battle cries to inspire bravery. When looking through history, it's
clear that religion and war have been the two most
prolific producers of human chants. Medieval pilgrims sang hymns on
their long journeys, and thousands of other religions used chants
to worship, inspire, and pray. Likewise, thousands of military groups
(01:35):
have adopted battle chants, mottos, and marching songs as part
of their core identities. These chants or sounds have an
almost mystical power to bind individuals together around a shared
purpose or goal. Around the turn of the twentieth century,
sports joined war and religion as one of the main
creators of new chants, and while sports lag behind war
(01:59):
and relige in terms of what's at stake, they also
kind of combine aspects of the two. It's impossible to
hear the way some people talk about sports teams without
drawing similarities to religion. For some, their team is their religion,
tuning in every week like a ritual and often on
Sundays to watch them play. And when two teams play
(02:22):
one another, especially in more physical sports, it's hard not
to feel like it's a battle between two warring sides,
just with jerseys instead of armor and javelins. All this
to say, crowds of people love to chant things together
because that in unison, yelling turns a group of a
thousand individuals into one singular unit. It's the perfect example
(02:47):
of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
So on today's Quick Hits episode, I'll be exploring the
interesting origins behind some of sports most iconic crowd chants,
ranging from a US Navy prep school to bullfighting rings
in Spain. I'm willgatchel. This is sports dot MP three
(03:08):
and let's get into it. In the world of sports,
(03:42):
it's important to believe that you can win, and that's
exactly the premise of the first chant we'll be covering.
In nineteen ninety eight, a student from the Naval Academy
Preparatory School in Annapolis, Maryland, named j Rodriguez was tasked
with creating a chant that Splittoon would use during an
upcoming basketball game against the United States Military Academy Preparatory School.
(04:07):
His final creation was a work of genius. It was
simple and easy to follow, yet oddly dynamic. Part of
(04:37):
its effectiveness, without a doubt, is that you don't even
need to know the chant to chant it. One person
leads off and everyone else just repeats what that person says,
and the whole time the chance power builds up until
it peaks with the final line, I believe that we
will win. A year after debuting the chant, Jay Rodriguez
(04:58):
had graduated the prep school was now a full time
student at the Naval Academy. It was there that he
taught the chant to a classmate, Corey Strong, who was
also a cheerleader for the school's football team, and that
small choice would lead to massive changes. During the nineteen
ninety nine Army Navy football game, Corey Strong started the
(05:20):
chant in the fourth quarter and the four thousand student
brigade of midshipmen joined in enthusiastically. Navy won the game
nineteen to nine, although they would go three and thirty
over the next three years, meaning there were not many
opportunities to break out the chant. When the team finally
(05:41):
improved in the two thousand and three season, Navy began
producing T shirts with the phrase plastered on them, and
the student section now breaks out the chant towards the
end of every victory. Over the following years, other college
teams also began adopting it, including the Utah State Aggis
men's basketball team, and the student sections of San Diego
(06:02):
State University and Harvard. In twenty eleven, Justin Brunken, co
founder of the American Outlaws, which are a massive US
soccer supporters group, heard the chant for the first time
during a US game in Kansas City, and it quickly
spread through the ranks of the country's soccer fanatics. Justin
(06:22):
later described why it was so popular. Quote, it resonated
with the crowds across the country and became synonymous with
what we believe in end quote. Before long, it was
the unofficial chant of the United States' national soccer teams,
appearing in two commercials promoting the twenty fourteen FIFA World
Cup and being slightly altered by US women's team forward
(06:45):
Abby Wombach, who during the twenty fifteen Women's World Cup
victory parade led the chant as I believe that we
just won. Part of the chants staying power, in addition
to a requiring almost zero prior non college, is how
applicable it is to well, any team or group that's
about to win. It doesn't specifically cater towards one sport, team, location,
(07:09):
or even time period, which explains how it started out
as a simple prep school basketball chant spread to hundreds
of other teams across sports, and was even sampled in
a twenty twenty Pit Bull song about COVID nineteen. If
you're curious, No, the song isn't that good. And I
say that as someone who appreciates the music of mister Worldwide.
(07:32):
All Right, let's get on to chant number two. I
(07:55):
don't speak Spanish, but I have indulged in my fair
share of ole olay chance. The sound is almost universal.
Even if you don't know what it means, you can
understand that the people channing it are cheering something or
someone on. In truth, olay is a Spanish interjection originally
(08:16):
used to praise or cheer on bullfighters aka mattadors and
flamenco dancers. Oftentimes, each successive move from a mattador or
dancer would earn an olay, and another, and another and
so on. The interjection has been used in various chants
and songs throughout the nineteen hundreds, but it didn't become
(08:37):
the world renowned chant it is today until the nineteen eighties.
And that's all thanks to two Belgians, music producer Roland
Verluven and singer grand Jojo also known as Jules Jean
von Obergen apologies for that pronunciation. The two were asked
to write a song celebrating Belgian's soccer team r SC
(09:01):
Anderlecht becoming league champions in nineteen eighty five, and they
did as instructed, recording a song called quote Anderlecht Champion
end quote. In both French and Dutch versions, the song's
chorus included the line lay alay, lay alay, we are
the champions, We are the champions, the lay in this
(09:24):
instance being the French A L l e z, not
the Spanish ol e. With the FIFA World Cup set
to take place in Mexico the following year, Grand Jojo
was asked to create a Mariachi influenced version of the
song in support of the Belgium national team, and he
(09:44):
did just that, replacing the chorus with olay olay, olay
olay with an ol e. This version of the song stuck,
with various other slightly altered versions releasing over the next
few years, including the most popular current iteration of the song,
which is called olay olay olay, the name of the game,
(10:05):
and was sung by a group called The Fans and
produced by Roland ver Luvin, the same man who created
the original Intellect Champion version with grand Jojo. Now, unlike
I believe that we will win, this olay chant has
more than one meaning. While it can be used as
a celebratory chant, it's also used to mock opposing teams,
(10:29):
which I guess is technically still celebration, but you know
what I mean. In Europe, fans of the winning team
will often yell olay sarcastically mocking the losing team after
every single pass or shot attempt. And to give an
idea of just how far reaching this olay chant has become,
(10:49):
its spread from bullfighting and soccer to hockey arenas and
rugby fields, becoming a popular chant for both the NHLs
Montreal Canadians and and the Welsh rugby Union. And with
(11:14):
that chant explained, we have one more to go, although
it's technically more of a clap than a chant, sort of.
(11:43):
In twenty sixteen, Iceland's population was around three hundred thirty
five thousand, five hundred people and England's was approximately fifty
five million, meaning that for every one person in Iceland,
there were one hundred and sixty four in England. I
(12:03):
bring this up to highlight just how shocking it was
when Iceland's national soccer team knocked England's out of the
round of sixteen during the twenty sixteen UWEFA European Championship.
The unprecedented underdog victory earned massive headlines around the world,
and all of this media attention allowed everyone to witness
(12:24):
one of the best crowd chants in sports, the Iceland
fans iconic thunderclap. You can't see it, but you can
(13:12):
picture it. Thousands of fans with their hands raised straight
in the air, clapping in unison and screaming huh, incrementally
speeding up the claps until it reaches a deafening peak
of intensity. The chant obviously went viral, with many calling
it the Viking thunderclap and tons of fan bases from
(13:34):
a variety of sports adopting their own versions of it.
And while it seems like the entire chant had to
have some sort of ancient Viking war ritual origin, the
truth is actually a lot more tame. Only two years
before their incredible Uro twenty sixteen run, the chant wasn't
used at all in Iceland. In twenty fourteen, an Iceland
(13:58):
soccer team whose name I dare not attempt to pronounce,
played against a Scottish team called Motherwell FC. The Scottish
fans ultimately broke out a thunderclap chant at some point
during the match, and it was apparently so cool that
the onlooking Icelanders decided to adopt it as their own.
(14:19):
From there, it soon made its way to the Iceland
national team, who then shared it with the rest of
the world thanks to the Euros. And just to add
another twist, MOTHERWELLFC doesn't officially claim to be the original
creator of the chant. Its true origin, according to anything
I could find, remains somewhat of a mystery, which is
(14:41):
somewhat fitting because the chant is, to some extent just
really fun to do, even if you're a fan of
an opposing team. There have been several instances, in fact,
where rival fans have joined Icelandic soccer team fans enacting
the thunderclap, and you can't really blame them. Plus, on
the topic of fitting, one American sports team has adopted
(15:04):
the chant as their official battlecry, and that is, if
you haven't guessed yet, the Minnesota Vikings, and that folks
does it. For today's quick Hits episode of Sports Dot
MP three, thank you so much for listening. Once again,
I'm Will Gatchel and I hope you learned something new.
As always, I'll be back next week with a new episode.
(15:27):
Peace after known to say them Dago
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