WATCH: Officials stop Kazakhstan & Azerbaijan judokas Hidayet Heydarov and Yeldos Smetov from displaying their flags in celebration at Paris Olympics

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Jul 30, 2024 09:41 GMT

Paris Olympics is facing yet another controversy. Recently Yeldos Smetov brought smiles to the Kazakh camp as he defeated the French judoka Luka Mkheidze in the men's 60kg event to win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

However, he wasn't prepared for what came next.

As shown in the video, when Yeldos Smetov took a victory lap after his triumph at the Paris Olympics, he was interrupted by a few officials who asked him not to celebrate with this flag.

This baffled both Smetov and the spectators and the episode soon became viral on social media, particularly X (formerly Twitter).

Yeldos Smetov was not the only one who suffered from such discrimination at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Hidayet Heydarov, who competed for Azerbaijan in the men's 73kg. category, had won the gold medal for Azerbaijan at the Paris Olympics.

Hidayet Heydarov of Azerbaijan, the Olympic champion in 73kg judo at Paris Olympics 2024 - Getty Images

He was allegedly stopped from celebrating with his flag by the organizing staff at Grand Palais Ephemere, the main venue for the judo events at the Paris Olympics. The organizers are completely tight-lipped on this issue for now.

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The other controversies at Paris Olympics 2024

Interestingly, what happened with Yeldos Smetov and Hidayet Heydarov at the Paris Olympics is not the first controversy associated with the judo event at Paris Olympics.

Controversies at the Paris Olympics [Image for Representational Purpose] - Getty Images

A couple of days ago, during the men's 66kg event, former junior world champion Nurali Emomali from Tajikistan had defeated Baruch Shmailov of Israel to proceed to the quartefinals.

However, he refused to shake hands with his Israeli opponent and shouted religious slogans. Later, Emomali was knocked out of the Paris Olympics due to a wrist injury during his quarterfinal bout against eventual gold medalist Hifumi Abe.

The opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics was also far from a smooth ride. For instance, South Korea was introduced as North Korea during the Parade of Nations. To make matters worse, Israeli athletes were booed during their entry at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

Matters came to a head when a re-enactment of 'The Last Supper' was organized at the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony. The performance was aimed as a symbol of inclusivity and diversity, but it ended up being a massive disaster, so much so that one of the sponsors, C-Spire decided to back out from the Paris Olympics altogether.