Paralympic athlete stripped of gold medal for banned gesture and flag

He received two yellow cards in the competition

The 2024 Paralympics came to a close on Sunday, bringing an end to 11 days of sporting action in Paris.

But there had been controversy a day earlier, on the Saturday, when Iranian javelin thrower Sadegh Beit Sayah won the men's F14 event with a new Paralympic record of 47.64 metres.

Just moments before the medal ceremony he was informed that his gold had been stripped after he received two yellow cards for actions he performed during the event.

First, Beit Sayah had performed a throat-slitting gesture after his record-breaking second throw in the final. This gave him his first yellow card and warning.

And after his gold medal win was confirmed and he started celebrating, he unfurled a black religious flag with red writing on during his celebrations.

This caused the 37-year-old to receive a second yellow card, and he was disqualified as a result, the Metro reports.

So, Indian para-athlete Navdeep Singh was promoted to gold, with China’s Sun Pengxiang and Iraq’s Wildan Nukhailawi taking silver and bronze respectively.

Beit Sayah was disqualified for breaking rule 1.11 of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Code of Ethics, which states athletes must "refrain from using the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement to promote any political agenda, other than the advancement of sport for persons with an impairment and democracy, empowerment, equality, and the protection of human rights."

Any athlete who doesn't comply with this rule can be disqualified under rule 8.1 of the International Paralympic Committee regulations, which states: "The IPC Code of Ethics and the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct shall apply to all participants of World Para Athletics Recognised Competitions.

"Any breach of these Regulations shall be determined in accordance with the procedures outlined in the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct."

Iran launched an unsuccessful appeal against Beit Sayah's disqualification, and the Paralympian claimed afterwards that the flag had no political meaning. He said it was a religious flag in honour of Hazrat Ummul Banin, the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia Imam.

He pointed out that he had unfurled a similar flag at the Tokyo Paralympics and had not been disqualified on that occasion, when he won a silver medal.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Para-Athletics Association, Aliasghar Hadizadeh, argued the throat-slitting gesture was commonly performed by athletes who broke a record.

He told Iranian media agency Tasnim News: "When the competition was over and the results were announced, we found out that he had been disqualified, so we immediately went to the authorities and announced our strong protest.

"After our protest, a meeting was held and the videos of the competition were shown. Considering that every athlete has a kind of happiness. Some of Shadi Beit Sayah’s behaviour was not approved by the referee, and our athlete was disqualified.

"Usually, when athletes break the record, they pass their hands past their necks as a sign of breaking this record, which took a different interpretation and showed the first yellow card to Beit Sayah."

Beit Sayah wasn't the only athlete to be stripped of a medal at the games.

Spanish marathon runner Elena Congost finished third in the women's T12 marathon event, but ended up being disqualified for a mistake she made just metres from the line.