The 2024 Paris Olympics delivered what it promised as the greatest sporting show on earth. Team USA topped the medals tally with 126 combined accolades, including a gold for the Avengers Team of LeBron James. Not only did the USAB men’s team earn the right to call themselves the best team in the world, but they also outlasted the heavily backed home team, France. But that came at a cost.

With the outpouring of support for France, the opposition was almost immediately put on the back foot. The jeering and booing turned into harassment at times, as it crossed the boundaries of the court in multiple instances. Joel Embiid was in the thick of the controversy. His U-turn decision to represent the USA instead of France sparked mass criticism of the Sixers star. During the whole tournament, the crowd was on his back, booing him at every given opportunity. Embiid, however, didn’t seem to mind the hostile atmosphere, as he even busted out some moves to drive the crowd into Bercy Arena madness.

Even after the tournament, when the players were out celebrating their triumph, fan harassment became a glaring issue. After Team USA’s 98-87 win over France, LeBron James was involved in one such incident. In a viral video, the 39-year-old was seen rejecting a young fan’s request, earning him widespread criticism. But what happened there? Footage from that incident came to the fore, where the young fan seemingly said something to LeBron James while trying to stop him for a moment of interaction. It didn’t please LeBron, as he told off the boy. A post on X revealed that the Lakers’ legend was called the N-word, but it isn’t audible in the clip.

LeBron James wasn’t the only name who faced concerning issues. Ayesha Curry was also a victim of an unsavory situation on the same night, but her case involved an interaction with the police. Steph Curry‘s wife and family were not permitted to get back to their ride by police officers and an argument broke out that left Ayesha in tears. While she remained silent throughout the ordeal clutching to 3-month-old Caius, Sonya Curry and Draymond Green remonstrated.

In a separate incident, Curry’s mother had a shirt waved at her face in Steph’s presence. A visibly upset Curry stood up to the miscreant, shouting, “Get that out of my momma’s face!” The controversies marred an otherwise successful event, which saw athletes from various countries put on an extraordinary display of skills.

Controversies at the Paris Olympics

The emotions were at a peak and the expectations were at an all-time high at the Paris Olympics, which resulted in the fans often getting carried away. With online bullying being one of the widespread problems in the world today, let alone sports, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) tried to combat the issue using AI. “AI will also allow us to better understand online violence and help us develop data-driven policies to create a physically and psychologically safe environment for athletes,” Kirsty Burrows, head of the IOC Safe Sport Unit said at the unveiling of the IOC’s Olympic AI agenda.

However, the reality showed a different outcome. Japanese racerunner Ayane Yanai faced a vile attack on social media after withdrawing from the individual events to focus on the relay events. “It’s best to ignore the slanderous posts. I thought it was better not to look at them,” Yanai said after finishing 13th in the mixed relay race walk event on August 7. But her compatriot, Uta Abe, wasn’t able to cope with it. After her loss in the women’s 52-kg judo event, Abe sobbed profusely, which made her a target of online abuse. “Even though I did not want to see them, I still saw them,” a distraught Abe said about the social media posts.

The controversy surrounding the women’s table tennis final between Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha took center stage. Weibo, a social media platform in China, removed more than 12,000 posts and comments, while more than 300 accounts were suspended, as per a report, after fans of both athletes made derogatory comments towards each other.

Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer who faced intense criticism and scrutiny about her gender throughout the Paris Olympics, filed a legal complaint in which she said she was the victim of online abuse. The gold medal-winning boxer came to the public eye after her controversial win over Angela Carini from Italy. The former quit the match just in 45 seconds after receiving a jarring blow from the welterweight. This led to major online backlash aimed at the Algerian and speculations spread like wildfire regarding her gender.

“Ms. Khelif contacted the firm, which filed a complaint yesterday for acts of aggravated cyber harassment with the anti-online hatred center of the Paris public prosecutor’s office,” Khelif’s attorney, Nabil Boudi said in a statement. The boxer was criticized famously by J.K Rowling, the writer of Harry Potter. “That also gives my success a special taste because of those attacks. … We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics,” Khelif said after her gold medal win over Yang Liu of China.

Paris Security also detained more than 50 people last month for inciting sabotage actions before the Olympics opening ceremony. While none from Team USA was physically harmed, it must have taken a mental toll even before the event started. Nevertheless, how was your experience of following the Paris Olympics? Share your thoughts in the comments below.