A STAR Olympic judoka was banished from the Olympics after a “disgraceful” action that left fans “shouting at their TV”.
It came in a quarter-final match-up between France star Teddy Riner and Georgian Guram Tushishvili.
Riner is one of France‘s biggest stars and was given the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron with retired sprinter Marie-Jose Perec during the opening ceremony.
Riner is already a three-time Olympic champion, having won gold at 2012 and 2016.
He also won gold in the mixed team event in Tokyo.
The French superstar remains on course to regain his Olympic gold though after beating Tushishvili.
But the win was marred by Tushishvili’s actions after he lost the contest.
Riner won the contest by ippon – the highest score a fighter can achieve in judo.
But Tushishvili then ended the bout in a disgraceful fashion – kicking Riner in the crotch and striking his face.
Tushishvili received a red card for his actions and has now been disqualified from the tournament completely.
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He’ll now be ineligible from being able to continue competing for a bronze medal.
Shocked commentators on Dutch channel NOS were shocked by Tushishvili’s dramatic actions.
One said: “What is this aggressiveness? This is not okay, this will get Georgia disqualified.
“He will be completely out of the tournament.”
The co-commentator replied: “Completely. This is scandalous behaviour. Disrespectful. He’s just throwing away an Olympic medal here. Disrespecting the whole judo culture.”
One shocked fan wrote on social media: “Insane behaviour. Had me shouting at the TV, lol. Imagine the message this sends to young judo players as well.”
Another said: “It’s shocking that you could make it to the Olympics in judo without being able to control your temper and aggression more than this. Wouldn’t be shocked to learn this person has a history of being disqualified.”
A third said: “Disgraceful from the Georgian athlete. This is not what we want to see!”
The two have a controversial history of fighting eachother.
In December 2022, Tushishvili beat Riner when their clubs PSG and Tiblisi faced off but the result was overturned afterwards due to an illegal move by Tushishvili.
Athletics icon Carl Lewis unveiled the new look purple track, which was designed by Italian company Mondo.
It is made of rubber, covers an area of around 17,000 square metres and has been extended from eight to nine lanes.
President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee Tony Estanguet revealed that the idea was to create a more “joyful and festive” tone to the track.
It will feature three colours, two shades of purple (one lighter, closer to lavender and the other darker) and grey on the outside of the track.
Mondo have seen three hundred world records broken since the Italian company produced the tracks since 1972.
And it is hoped that many more will be broken at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
