A pivotal 100kg Olympic judo heavyweight match in Paris ended in controversy Friday after Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili was disqualified for kicking out Frenchman Teddy Riner.
Riner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, brilliantly swept Tushishvili, sealing his win and advancement to the semifinal round. However, his defeated Georgian counterpart seemed to take great exception to being defeated thusly and swept Riner off balance.
Riner kept ahold of Tushishvili’s gi, and the whole thing got rather messy.
Commentators reacted in shock to the exchange.
“What is this aggressiveness? This is not okay; this will get Georgia disqualified,” said a Eurosport commentator via the Daily Mail. Another added, “He will be completely out of the tournament. He will be completely out of the tournament.”
As predicted, officials gave the Georgian a red card for his actions, disqualifying him.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) also blasted Tushishvili.
“Following the incident that took place at the end of the quarter-final between Teddy Riner (FRA) and Guram Tushishvili (GEO) in the +100 kg weight category, the behaviour of the Georgian judoka was against the ‘spirit of judo,’ an ad hoc disciplinary commission was called immediately together to investigate the situation,” the IJF said in a statement.
Riner would go on to win his next two matches and capture his third gold medal.
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