Athletics legends Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka comforted distraught French pole vault star Renaud Lavillenie after he was booed for the second day by a hostile Brazilian crowd on the Olympic medal podium.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach slammed the behaviour as “shocking”.
Lavillenie — who hit out at the host nation’s fans for their conduct during Monday’s pole vault final — held his head in his hands but could not hold back the tears which streamed his face as he stood on the podium after receiving his silver medal.
In a private room after, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist was consoled by international athletics chief Coe, Bach and pole vault legend Bubka, an IAAF vice president.
After leaving Lavillenie, Bach said on Twitter that it was “shocking behaviour for the crowd to boo Renaud Lavillenie on the medal podium. Unacceptable behaviour at the Olympic Games”.
The ceremony completed a miserable 24 hours for Lavillenie, who on Monday lost his Olympic crown to unknown Brazilian pole vaulter Thiago Braz da Silva in a dramatic final.
“It’s disgusting, there is a total lack of fair-play and I want to stress that the Brazilian is not involved at all,” Lavillenie told French television after coming out of his encounter with Coe, Bach and Bubka. “But I am going to move on,” he added.
Lavillenie’s final attempts in Monday’s competition were marked by deafening booing and catcalls as he prepared to jump.
“It really disturbed me, I felt the nastiness of the public and we do a sport where you never see that,” Lavillenie fumed.