The Judo Federation confirmed: Majdov was disqualified for crossing himself.

Judoka Majdov disqualified from Paris Olympics for religious gesture

The International Judo Federation (IJF) confirmed that Serbian judoka Nemanja Majdov was disqualified for demonstrating a religious gesture at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Earlier, Majdov reported on social media that the IJF had suspended him for five months for crossing himself before his lost bout against Greek Theodoros Tselidis in the round of 16 of the Olympics.

Majdov was punished following a disciplinary procedure initiated in accordance with the IJF disciplinary code for incidents recorded during his performance at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He was charged with demonstrating a conspicuous religious symbol when entering the match and refusing to bow to his opponent at the end of the match, which are violations of the ethical code, as well as for removing his judogi (the uniform worn by athletes), which is a violation of the IJF sports and organizational regulations (SOR).

It is also noted that the athlete has been involved in incidents related to violations of the ethical code. In April 2018 and February 2022, he was warned by letter about behavior that contravenes sports regulations.

In the warning letter from February 2022, the respondent was informed that "in the event of any future violation, the IJF will initiate a disciplinary review." It should also be noted that the athlete did not contest any of the two warnings, so his claim that he was unaware of the rule prohibiting the demonstration of any religious, political, ethnic, or other gestures is not accurate.

Nemanja Majdov is the 2017 world champion and the 2023 European champion.

Recall that in the round of 16 of the Olympic tournament, Tajik judoka Nurali Emomali defeated Israeli Baruch Shmailov. After the bout, he refused to shake his opponent's hand and shouted "Allahu Akbar."

It is worth noting that in the round of 32, Shmailov was also refused a handshake by Moroccan Abderrahman Boushit.

As reported, the Israeli Olympic bronze medalist Peter Palchik could have lost his medal due to supporting the army.