Devastated French Olympian Michael Olise has copped backlash for immediately removing his silver medal during the podium celebration following the football final.
France were beaten 5-3 in extra-time by Spain in one of the great Olympic finals.
Olise, who at 22 is one of the rising stars in the sport, stuffed the silver medal in his jacket pocket while on the podium.
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It made for an awkward photo with Olise the only player without a medal around his neck.
While some fans and pundits were sympathetic to the youngster, who was clearly devastated by the result, others said it was “disrespectful” and shows why football shouldn’t be in the Olympics.
“This to me is why football shouldn’t be in the Olympics. For the majority of Olympians, they work relentlessly for 4 years to peak at just the right time. It’s the pinnacle, their reason. Sure they want gold, but a silver medal is massive. It’s not a Carabao Cup runners up,” Sky Sports commentator Dougie Critchley said.
“I’m sorry but this whole removing the silver medal gimmick doesn’t work in the Olympics. People work their whole lives to get such an honour, it’s crazily disrespectful especially when you’ve never won anything,” one fan said.
“This is not cool and helps arguments that football should not be at the Olympics. Of course everyone wants a gold medal, but silver is still a huge achievement and should not be something disregarded so easily. Michael Olise shamed himself, Bayern Munich and his country,” another said.
“Michael Olise doesn’t understand what Olympics mean. He probably thinks that he was in a FA Cup final,” another added.
Olise posted a picture of himself wearing the silver medal (before he quickly removed it) on social media with the caption: “Thanks to all, an experience that last forever.”
The French star will now head back to Germany ahead of his first season with Bayern Munich. Olise previously played for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League before joining the European powerhouse for a reported transfer fee of €60m (AU$100m).
Expectations were high for France going into the men’s gold medal match, but the reality of the first half was brutal for Thierry Henry’s side.
The Parc des Princes stadium – the home of French giant Paris Saint-Germain – was a sea of tricolore flags ahead of the game and spectators had high hopes for this team playing on home soil.
A lot was riding on French legend Henry, who is used to winning as a player but not as a coach.
Enzo Millot opened the scoring early for France after a goalkeeping error from Arnau Tenas, but La Roja hit back with three goals in 10 minutes through Álex Baena and Fermín López’s brace to take a 3-1 lead at half-time and stun the crowd.
But roared on by a booming home crowd in the second half, France fought back as Maghnes Akliouche’s flick and Jean-Philippe Mateta’s last-minute penalty made it 3-3.
But France finally came unstuck in extra time as Sergio Camello scored two brilliant chips to make it 5-3 and seal the gold medal for Spain. The Olympic title is the second ever for Spain and the first since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
“There were a few minutes during the first half in which we disappeared and we paid a high price for that,” Henry said after the game.
“Then we were able to recover and get back in the game. It wasn’t easy to build this team up, but I’m proud of the work we did.”
– With CNN