The Brazilian Crowd Booed As A French Pole Vaulter Wept On The Podium; Was This The Height Of Bad Sportsmanship?

French Pole Vaulter Renaud Lavillenie was the favorite to win the Pole Vault this year. He went up against Brazilian Thiago Braz da Silva, and the home crowd were really not a fan of the Frenchman. Renaud then compared them to the Nazi's booing Jesse Owens, and things went from bad to worse

Renaud took silver in the event, and the home crowd showed him no mercy even as he wept

Renaud's comparison was clearly overblown, but this is the Olympics, an event that carries emotional weight for these athletes and Renaud apologized

Gold medalist and native son Thiago Braz da Silva spent some time comforting his competitor after the ceremony, as did IAC chairman Lord Sebastien Coe-Renaud has also received a lot of online support for his good behavior

Renaud's comments were poorly worded, but he's since apologized and accepted the criticism. Do you think the reaction of the Brazilian crowd was bad sportsmanship? Should the Olympic Committee take action? What do YOU think about this?

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