The gold medal for most over-the-top protest at the Rio Summer Olympics goes to the Mongolian wrestling coaches after a controversial end to a close match.
During the 65kg freestyle wrestling bronze medal match on Sunday, Mongolia’s Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran was leading his opponent, Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan, 7-6 and started celebrating with only seconds left.
When the final horn sounded, Mongolia head coach Tserenbaatar Tsogtbayar and assistant coach Byambarenchin Bayaraa ran onto the mat and celebrated with Mandakhnaran, but the judges awarded a penalty point because Mandakhnaran was not engaging with an opponent during the match.
With the score level at 7-7, Navruzov was then awarded the victory by virtue of earning the last point, and he began celebrating with his coaches.
After the Mongolian coaches challenged the decision, the judges said it could not be challenged.
Tsogtbayar and Bayaraa became irate, and began taking their clothes off and throwing their shoes onto the mat, with one coach stripping down to his underwear.
Navruzov was awarded another penalty point for the Mongolian outburst following the match.
“The referees were not good,” said Bayaraa. “They only supported the Uzbek. After the challenge for five seconds we win, and we are very happy for this medal. Three million people in Mongolian waited for this bronze medal and now we have no medal.”
Mandakhnaran refused to accept the decision and walked away from the referee who was about hold the hand up of Navruzov to make the match official.
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