'Shoey' and other unusual celebrations

'Giving someone the boot' has a whole new meaning now it seems, thanks to Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian F1 racer celebrated his third-place finish at the US Grand Prix a couple of days ago, by doing a 'shoey'—drinking the champagne from his racing boot on the podium!

Though Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton won the race, all eyes were on the Red Bull racer, who even persuaded Hollywood actor Gerard Butler—the poor soul was conducting podium interviews—to join in (it was Red Bull energy drink and not alcohol since Butler is a teetotaller). The sport that he is, Butler obliged and later tweeted this:

Ricciardo has reached the podium four times this season—German GP, Belgian GP and the Malaysian GP—including the recent one, and has done the shoey every time. He also got his Red Bull teammates to partake in this (stinky?) celebration. Having got the taste of Ricciardo's shoe once at the Belgian GP, former Australian F1 driver Mark Webber—who was doing the podium interviews—however, declined the 'offer' at the Malaysian GP!

While the podium interviewers might want to do a Webber in case Ricciardo wins again, let's have a look at some other unusual celebrations in sports:

Novak Djokovic

With 12 Grand Slams under his belt, the 29-year-old Serb is currently the world number one singles tennis player. But what set this 'chompion' apart was the way he celebrated each of his three Wimbledon wins. It all started in 2011 when, after he beat Spain's Rafael Nadal in the final, he went down on his haunches, plucked a few blades of grass from the court and munched on it. He did it again in 2014 and 2015 when he defeated Swiss legend Roger Federer on both occasions. He later explained that as a child he had always wanted to do it if he ever won the Wimbledon.

All Blacks—New Zealand rugby team

The All Blacks team is arguably the most formidable force on the rugby pitch, having won the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. What adds to their fearsome aura, is the war dance—haka—they perform on the pitch before the match. Originally done by the Maoris of New Zealand before going to battle, the players perform the perfectly choreographed haka to intimidate the opponents and to motivate each other. In fact, in the 2015 final against Australia, the All Blacks performed the 'Kapa O Panga' haka before the match and followed it up with a traditional 'Ka Mate' haka after winning the William Webb Ellis Cup.

Pakistan cricket team

Pakistan and England might have shared the honours in the four-match Test series earlier this year, but the first match at the Mecca of cricket will be remembered for a long time. After beating England by 75 runs, the whole Pakistan team, led by senior player Younis Khan, went on to celebrate the win by doing push-ups on the ground at Lord's. Skipper Misbah-ul Haq later explained that the team did it to honour his promise to the country's armymen at a camp in Abbottabad.

Iceland football team

The surprise package of Euro 2016 was, undoubtedly, Iceland. On their way to the quarterfinals where they lost 5-2 to eventual runners-up France, the team won the hearts of football fans by drawing with Portugal 1-1 and beating England 2-1. But, what turned them into internet sensations, was their 'Viking clap' ritual after the matches, especially the one against England. The players were joined by thousands of loyal fans as they would start off with slow overhead claps followed by cries of 'hoooh'. The pace would pick up and reach a crescendo before ending in loud cheers and applause reverberating around the stadium.

Mark Cavendish

Trust the British cyclist to come up with strange ways to celebrate his wins. Be it his salute to eyewear manufacturers Oakley or 'making-a-call' tribute to sponsors HTC or the two-finger gesture to his critics, Cavendish has a penchant to do the unthinkable after winning a race. But the most eyebrow-raising celebration has to be the one after winning the 2009 Tour of California. While Cavendish insisted he was pointing to his lucky shorts, chamois-cream maker Dave Zabriskie claimed the cyclist was 'promoting' the former's DZNuts product.