According to the Los Angeles Times, researchers from the University of British Columbia and San Francisco State University have found a strong connection between human athletic poses and primate mannerisms.

By examining photographs and testing blind subjects, scientists have concluded that primal behavior is innate in human beings and common athletic mannerisms, i.e. slumped shoulders and hands on one's face when they lose or "clenched fists, thrown-back heads and outstretched arms" when they win, are comparable to the dominance statures of chimpanzees and gorillas. 

In other words, Michael Phelps (depicted above) is a gorilla.

OTR decided to test this hypothesis by digging through archival footage of college athletes, coaches and fans and comparing their mannerisms with those of monkeys, chimps and gorillas.

Our results: affirmative.