Georgian Sandro Bazadze, the current world number one, stayed on the track for several minutes on Saturday in protest after his defeat in the round of 16 of the individual fencing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The shooter claimed he was hurt by the referee in the fight, in which he lost 15-14 to Egypt's Mohamed Amer.
“I have been number one in the world for the last three years and, like in Tokyo, the referees killed me for the second time. In Tokyo, they ruined my life, I almost stopped my career and went back to prepare for the Olympics. The Games and now they killed me again,” the athlete said in the mixed zone, considering that “his career is over.”
Reuters/Albert Jia
Sandro Bazadze started the match poorly, but managed to recover and take the fight to the decisive touch, which ended in a loss, by a decision of the Spanish referee Vanessa Chichon.
In Tokyo 2020, he lost in the Olympic semi-finals 15-13 to Hungary's Aron Szilagyi, before losing the bronze to South Korea's Kim Jong-hwan (15-11).
“I've been training for 21 years for this and the referee treats me like I'm nobody when I ask her to explain her decision. Anyone can see the video,” he said.
Previously, in the women's sabre competition, China's Sun Yiwen, the current Olympic champion, also refused to leave the track, after being eliminated by Japan's Miho Yoshimura, 14-13, immediately after entering the competition.
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