Olympics 2024: Judo star disqualified in dramatic scenes after ‘act of disrespect’

An astonishing moment of petulance has torn one athlete’s Olympic campaign to shreds after “scandalous” scenes erupted in the dojo.

One of the biggest French stars of the 2024 Olympics remains on course for gold after his latest opponent was thrown out of the Games in disgrace.

At 35, Teddy Riner is already a three-time Olympic champion, with gold medals in the men’s +100kg category from the 2012 and 2016 Games, and a mixed team event victory at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.

But things turned south on Friday when Riner continued his quest to reclaim his individual Olympic title. He was thrown to the ground by Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili and looked to be on the ropes.

But the match didn’t end in regular fashion.

Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili tumbled out in disgrace.

At 35, Teddy Riner is already a three-time Olympic champion.

But he wasn’t expecting this.

In a move that had jaws dropping across the arena, Tushishvili put his leg into Riner’s groin and his hand on his face, even appearing to kick out at him during the scuffle.

Dutch commentators for the NOS network were shocked at the disrespect.

“What is this aggressiveness? This is not okay, this will get Georgia disqualified,” one exclaimed.

“Completely. This is scandalous behaviour. Disrespectful. He’s just throwing away an Olympic medal here,” another added.

Tushishvili eventually calmed down enough to shake hands with Riner and gesture to the crowd, but by then it was far too late.

His disqualification was confirmed by the judges, barring him from not just the bronze medal bout but from the entire team event as well.

Riner now advances to the last four of the competition, which will take place Friday afternoon.