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Rio 2016 organizers lament Brazilian crowds booing rival athletes

Xinhua, August 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Rio 2016 Organizing Committee on Wednesday expressed its sorrow for the way some Brazilian fans have been booing athletes from other countries during the Games.

At a press conference, the Rio 2016 spokesperson, Mario Andrada, said that "booing is not the right way to help anyone. We are continuing to work on this, we are trying to hold a dialogue with spectators so that this topic ends and does not affect athletes."

"We have begun a dialogue on social media and we are releasing messages in Portuguese about the right way to support and help the athletes," added Andrada.

The spokesperson also cited the events on Tuesday at the Olympic Stadium, where Brazil's pole vaulter Thiago Braz da Silva took the gold with a 6.03m jump, while France's defending champion Renaud Lavillenie came second but was booed during his jumps and the medal ceremony.

"We sold 53,828 tickets for the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday. The gold medal winner (from Brazil) in pole vaulting was a surprise and the crowd lost control during the last jumps. It was very delicate," said Andrada.

The booing of Lavillenie led to Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, lashing out. He wrote on Twitter, "Shocking behaviour for the crowd to boo Renaud Lavillenie on the medal podium. Unacceptable at the Olympics." Enditem