From Israelis to the Argentina football team – why are some athletes getting booed at Paris 2024?

The Olympic Games are nearing the business end, with less than a week to go before athletes from the 206 participating countries congregate for the closing ceremony.

The multi-discipline event has had its share of controversies, including a number of occasions when the French crowd have booed certain athletes and teams during various events.

Here are some instances:

From the opening ceremony to the field, Israelis face the heat

The Paris Olympics has been host to various athletes from Israel and Palestine against the geo-political backdrop of the former’s military attacks on the Gaza strip as a response to the October 7 attacks orchestrated by Hamas.

In the opening ceremony, videos of the crowd welcoming the Israeli contingent with boos and jeers circulated on the internet.

A day after the opening ceremony, a few of the Israeli athletes received death threats via emails. This led the French Police to launch an investigation and the athletes being escorted to and from events by security.

On the football pitch, the Israeli national anthem wasn’t met with the most pleasant of receptions as the crowd was heard booing during the side’s matches against Mali and Paraguay.

(With Reuters inputs)

Convicted rapist exits amid hoots and whistles

Ahead of the Olympics in the French capital, news had emerged of a convicted child rapist being one of the athletes who were set to play in the Games. This was Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde.

Van de Velde was convicted in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in England, when the athlete was about 19-years-old.

While his teammate Matthew Immers was applauded, Van de Velde was, for the most part of Olympics campaign, booed and jeered at, especially when the ball was with him.

On August 5, Van de Velde and Immers bowed out of the Paris Games after losing to Brazil in straight sets.

In his fourth and final match, Van de Velde again was subjected to a steady stream of hoots and whistles each time he served the ball. On match point, with Van de Velde serving and the crowd jeering him, Evandro delivered the winning spike to win 21-16, 21-16 and end the Dutch team’s stay at the Summer Games.

The teammates hugged, did the usual postmatch handshake with the opponents and the officials and then sat on the bench for a few minutes with an arm around each other’s shoulder. Van de Velde walked off waving to the crowd, seeking out the orange-clad Dutch fans who were applauding among the others sending boos his way.

(With AP inputs)

Amid racism row, Argentina gets a French welcome

Ever since the football competitions began on July 24 in the Olympics, the Argentina men’s side was met with a palpable sense of hostility, courtesy the French crowd amid a racism row.

From booing during the Argentina national anthem to jeering at the players when they enter the pitch, the crowd made sure that the two-time Olympic gold medallist received a French welcome.

The Argentina-France rivalry in the men’s football world has been known for some time now. The 2022 FIFA World Cup final, where the Albiceleste emerged as winners, was one of the recent episodes that fuelled it.

However, the rivalry turned uglier when some Argentine players, led by Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandes, were seen singing along a racist song about the African roots of France’s players after the South American side’s record-breaking Copa America win few weeks back.

Argentina’s Paris Olympics journey ended after the host defeated it 1-0 in the quarterfinals. The match had a heightened sense of tension as both French players and spectators spurred on their Argentinian counterparts after a victory that tasted sweet in the light of recent events.

A controversy inside the boxing ring

When Italy’s Angela Carini threw in the towel just after 46 seconds during her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif, the former claimed that she hadn’t been punched so hard before.

This incident put the spotlight on Khelif, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, both pugilists having been banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) during last year’s world championships in New Delhi after they failed gender tests. According to IBA, boxers with XY chromosomes aren’t allowed to participate in women’s events.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible of overseeing the boxing events at the ongoing Games. This is because the IOC stripped IBA of its status as the world governing body of the sport due to governance and finance issues. This means that the IOC doesn’t go by the rules set by IBA, which meant that Khelif and Yu-Ting could play in Paris.

After there was outrage online where derogatory remarks were thrown at the two boxers who have now embroiled in this gender row, the crowd at Paris has recently shown solidarity with the athletes.

In the quarterfinals, Khelif defeated Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori to ensure an Olympic medal for Algeria and herself. Hamori, who had preceded the bout with hateful images of the Algerian on her social media, was reportedly treated with boos, while Khelif had vehement support in the crowds.

Yu-Ting too entered the semis after beating Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva, who after the match, crossed her fingers to make an ‘X’, perhaps denoting the XX chromosomes women biologically have.

Argentina-France rivalry on the tee

The French crowd’s hostility towards the Argentinian footballers wasn’t restricted to the sport. When Alejandro Tosti of Argentina came on to the course at the Golf National venue, he was met with boos during the third round of the men’s golf competition.

However, according to GolfDigest’s report of the day, Tosti seemed to have laughed it off and went on with the competition.