(Paris 2024) Italy files formal protest after Edgar Cheung wins historic second gold

30-07-2024 12:20 HKT

The Italian Fencing Federation (FIS) has lodged an official complaint to the International Fencing Federation (FIE) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the "unacceptable refereeing" over the Olympic foil final.

This came after Edgar Cheung Ka-long defended his Olympic title on Tuesday by beating Italy's Filippo Macchi 15-14.

The nail-biting match featured several rounds of ties, with the dramatic deciding point being met with three stoppages for video reviews as the fencing machine showed both fencers scored. Cheung was finally awarded the point for his win.

Paolo Azzi, the president of FIS, claimed Macchi was the "real winner" but "denied a gold medal he deserved" and doubted the level of refereeing.

The Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago also claimed there was a fundamental error as two judges came from Taiwan and South Korea.

"They told us that they were drawn by lot and even more so after the first one, the second president of the jury had to be changed," Malago added. "In no advert is there a referee 'bordering' an athlete."

The Italian fencing coach Stefano Cerioni also took to Instagram to voice his complaint regarding the refereeing by posting a picture of himself pointing to the referee in protest, along with stating that he has never seen such an "unjust match" and saying that Macchi was the "moral winner."

Cheung's social media account was flooded with comments by Italian supporters protesting the "biased referee" and claiming that Cheung had won the gold medal by "robbing" their representative.

Separately, on the official Instagram account of the Paris Olympics, where the organizers posted a post congratulating Cheung on his gold medal, some Italian supporters claimed the match was "unfair" and said that the organizers had "controlled" the match result.

Hong Kong supporters came to defend Cheung on social media by giving him words of encouragement along with some netizens posting pictures of pineapple pizza, as Italians were commonly known to hate pineapple on their pizza, as a humorous way to fight back against the Italians.

In celebration of the gold and bronze medals, a popular pizza chain in Hong Kong also announced that any dine-in customers ordering pizza would receive a free serving of pineapple topping on a first-come, first-served basis.

(Updated at 5.52 pm)