Mongolian official strips in protest after wrestler is denied gold, world closes its eyes

There are various amazing clips on the internet of athletes who celebrate too soon - easing off, thinking the race is won when, like the famous tortoise/hare match-up - someone comes from nowhere to suddenly pip them on the line. Normally, the reaction of the vanquished athlete is one of embarrassment and regret while they wear a look of a competitor who has just learnt a hard and valuable lesson.

But, instead of being embarrassed, you could just get angry instead. Which is what happened in extraordinary scenes in the Olympic wrestling arena after a bronze medal match in the 65kg freestyle wrestling, between Mongolia's Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran and Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov.

The former was leading the latter 7-6 with seconds remaining and started to celebrate, dancing around for the final 18 seconds believing he had won. When the horn sounded, Mongolia head coach Tserenbaatar Tsogtbayar and assistant coach Byambarenchin Bayaraa ran onto the mat to celebrate.

Sadly for them all, the judges had decided to award a penalty point to Navruzov, penalising Mandakhnaran for failing to engage with an opponent. The real kicker was that, when scores are level, the wrestler who scores the final point wins - so Navruzov took the medal.

The Mongolian team did not take the news well.

You can see a clip of Mandakhnaran dancing around in the clip below:

Despite the protestations, the decision was not altered, and Mandakhnaran returned home without a medal.

Still, it could have been worse, he could have been one of these guys:

Oh dear

Whoops

Embarrassing