From boxing gender row to Vinesh Phogat’s dramatic disqualification, here are the biggest controversies that dominated the headlines at Paris 2024 Olympics.
Vinesh Phogat and Iman Khelief found themselves at the centre of controversies. (Getty Images)
New Delhi: Some well-known faces from sport, screen and music combined for a grand spectacle to draw curtains on the Paris 2024 Olympics. The glittering closing ceremony brought an end to the 33rd Olympic Games after
16 days of non-stop thrilling sporting action. The French capital impressed everyone with a memorable event that displayed its history and culture to 80,000 spectators.
In one of the grandest acts in the history of the Olympics, Tom Cruise descended from the roof of Stade de France to collect the Olympic flag as part of the handover to the American city of Los Angeles, which will host the next Games in 2028, before zooming off on a motorcycle.
Popular artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre added gloss to the ceremony with dazzling performances on Venice Beach.
Inside the stadium in Paris, selected athletes from their respective countries performed the flag-bearing duties at the ceremony.
While the Paris 2024 Games signed off on a positive note, plenty of controversies dominated the headlines in the 33rd edition of the Summer Games.
The extra 100 gms that robbed Vinesh Phogat and India of a slice of history
Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 after failing to make weight ahead of her final. (Photo: PTI)
Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Olympics final on the morning of the gold medal bout was perhaps the biggest controversy to hit the Paris 2024 Games. India’s joy turned into despair when Vinesh, after scripting history to become the first Indian woman to reach a wrestling Olympic final, was disqualified from the finals.
Despite all the best efforts of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) medical staff to shed the extra weight, Vinesh was found overweight by 100 gms in the weigh-in ahead of the gold medal bout. The unfortunate disqualification not only snatched the chance to win the gold but also robbed her of a sure-shot silver.
After the Paris heartbreak, Vinesh retired from wrestling and later filed an appeal in the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for a join-silver medal. The CAS accepted her case and after an ad-hoc panel hearing will announce the verdict on August 13.
The Gender row
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 09: Imane Khelif of Team Algeria poses for a photo after winning the gold medal following the Boxing Women’s 66kg Final match against Liu Yang of Team China on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Roland Garros on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
In one of the most bizarre moments in the history of the Olympics, the boxing event featured a ‘biologically male’ boxer against a female in a 66 kg category bout. When Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the bout in just 46 seconds against Italy’s Angela Carini, who retired hurt after a thunderous punch badly hurt her nose, it was seen as one of the darkest days in the history of sports.
Besides Khelif, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting (57kg) was the other ‘biologically male’ boxer competing in Paris. Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after failing to meet gender eligibility tests.
International Boxing Association president, Umar Kremlev, had revealed that the DNA tests “proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded”.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which ran boxing in Paris deemed both boxers eligible to box in the women’s competition in Paris because ‘in their passports and it’s stated in there that they are female’.
Despite a huge uproar, both boxers went on to win gold medals in their respective categories.
Joy for Romania, agony for the USA
After a dramatic CAS ruling, American gymnast Jordan Chiles lost her bronze medal to 18-year-old Romanian Ana Barbosu. The CAS ruled on Saturday that the judging panel improperly granted an inquiry that moved Chiles up from fifth and robbed Barbosu of winning the medal.
Following the heartbreak, Romanian Gymnastics Federation and gymnasts Barbosu and Sabrina Maneca-Voinea appealed to the CAS, which ruled that Chiles’s degree of difficulty was submitted past the one-minute deadline for such inquiries and should not have been granted.
After the review, Chiles’ score was upgraded to 13.766 ahead of Barbosu who thought she had done enough to bag a bronze with her score of 13.700.
But justice prevailed in the end, as after the ruling was applied to Chiles’s score, the score was reinstated to its original 13.666.
Drug and sex
Thomas Craig of Australia controls the ball during the Men’s Hockey – Pool B match between Australia and Argentina on Day 1 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium on July 27, 2024 in Colombes, France. (Photo by Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
An Olympic edition is incomplete without a drug or a sex scandal. An Australian hockey player was barred from attending the closing ceremony after being arrested for buying cocaine in Paris. Tom Craig spent a night in a Paris police station and brought shame to the Australian contingent.
Days later, Egyptian wrestler Mohamed Ibrahim Kisho was arrested in Paris following allegations of sexual assault and public intoxication.
The Egyptian grappler was taken into custody on suspicion of sexually harassing a woman in a bar near the Seine River at 4:30 am.
He was later released due to lack of evidence.
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