Renaud Lavillenie Rio 2016: 'It's Unacceptable', IOC Reacts To Fans' Shocking Behavior At Medal Ceremony
The Rio Olympics reach it's lowest point on Tuesday when a stadium packed with Brazilian fans roundly booed Renaud Lavillenie as he accepted his silver medal.
The French pole vaulter, 29, went up against Rio native Thiago da Silva on Monday night, both athletes competing for first place in the Men's Pole Vault. Da Silva had the support of a hometown crowd, but as much as the Olympian appreciated the good will of his compatriots, his smile faded as those cheers turned to jeers when Lavillenie took the track.
Da Silva ultimately won the event, snagging gold with a 6.03m vault. Upset by the events of the meet, Lavillenie went a little overboard. The Frenchman compared the ill will of Brazilian fans to that suffered by Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Lavillenie quickly apologized for the statement, recognizing that the comparison brought up a host of issues from racism to Nazism.
Nevertheless, fans did not learn the error of their ways. As Da Silva, Lavillenie, and America's Sam Kendricks took the podium a day later, the Brazilians doubled down on their jeers. Although Da Silva attempted to quell the mayhem, Lavillenie was ultimately moved to tears. Receiving an Olympic medal is a life-long dream for athletes, and after all they've sacrificed to win, the moment should be the highlight of their careers. Lavillenie was later comforted by Da Silva and IAAF president and track legend Lord Coe, according to the BBC.
IOC president Thomas Bach joined athletes and Olympians around the world in condemning the crowd's behavior.
"Those tears were tears of disappointment in this crowd. They should be ashamed. I can't let that go - it's not what competition is about," former 400m world record holder Michael Johnson said, according to the BBC. "Support the person that you want to support, but you don't boo someone else simply because they're competing against the person you support. They started that during the competition, it wasn't proper etiquette."
Now that you've lost you faith in the Olympic spirit, check out the Top 5 moments of sportsmanship from the Rio games.