Georgian Judo star Guram Tushishvili was disqualified from the men’s 100kg judo competition after he bizarrely appeared to kick out at French favourite Teddy Riner during their quarter-final clash.
Riner, a gold medallist at the 2012 games and the 2016 games, has since advanced to the final after beating Tajikistan’s Temu Rakhimov in the resulting semi-final.
But his meeting with Tushishvili, 29, ended in unsavoury scenes, with the Georgian appearing to clash with the French star after Riner had landed a winning move on his opponent.
Tushishvili reacted angrily after Riner’s ippon, pushing his leg upwards into the Frenchman’s crotch, before getting to his feat and appearing to push the 35-year-old’s head into the canvas.
Riner, incensed by the Georgian’s lack of sportsmanship, held on to the Georgian, who subsequently pushed him back onto the canvas with his hip.
Officials subsequently handed Tushishvili a red card for his behaviour, with Dutch commentators from NOS branding his actions as ‘scandalous’.
‘What is this aggressiveness? This is not okay, this will get Georgia disqualified,’ one Eurosport commentator said.
‘He will be completely out of the tournament.’ Another added: ‘He will be completely out of the tournament.’
The pair would go on to shake hands following the shocking incident, with Riner being crowned the victor.
After the fight, it was confirmed that Tushishvili had been disqualified and will not be able to fight for the bronze medal.
The International Judo Federation subsequently issued a statement condemning the altercation.
‘Following the incident that took place at the end of the quarter-final between Teddy Riner (FRA) and Guram Tushishvili (GEO) in the +100 kg weight category, the behaviour of the Georgian judoka was against the ‘spirit of judo,’ an ad hoc disciplinary commission was called immediately together to investigate the situation,’ the governing body said.
‘The following decisions were taken:
- ‘Guram Tushishvili is suspended from the individual competition and will not be allowed to compete in the repechage.
- ’Guram Tushishvili is suspended from participating in the mixed team event to be held on 3rd August 2024.
- ’Guram Tushishvili is suspended from participating in any international judo competition until the IJF Disciplinary Commission meets to give a final decision. Further investigations will be conducted to determine what happened.
‘The Georgian delegation and the athletes were informed of the decisions.’
Tushishvili had been vying to better his silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games, having also won gold at the 2018 World Championships in Baku.
He was due to face Uzbekistan’s Alisher Yusupov in the repechage, but will not feature in the match.
Yusupov will now take on Japan’s Tatsuru Saito for the bronze medal.
