Rio 2016 Olympics
Rio 2016 OlympicsReuters

In a shock result at the Rio Olympics last night (Monday), French pole-vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, who holds the world-record for the highest ever successful vault, was beaten for the gold medal by Brazilian Thiago da Silva, and then had some choice words for the conduct of the Brazilian crowd during the contest.

Lavillenie looked to be in good shape following a successful vault of 5.98 meters, a new Olympic record. Da Silva for his part had only managed the 5.93 jump in his second attempt.

In a surprising and unusual move, the Brazilian then decided to just go for broke, raising the bar to 6.03 meters, and after failing to get off the ground on his first attempt, shocked the world and the delighted partisan crowd with a successful jump, breaking the Olympic record set by his French rival just minutes before.

This wasn't the end of the night's drama though. The crowd booed Lavillenie throughout, showing poor sportsmanship, and the Frenchman wasn't just going to take that lying down.

"These are things that happen in soccer, not track-and-field," a stunned Lavillenie told media, "This is not a good look for the Olympic games. In 1936 the crowd was openly against Jesse Owens and since then we haven't seen something like this. There's no place for it in track-and-field competitions."

The 1936 Olympics were, of course, held in Hitler's Berlin. American sprinter and long-jumper Jesse Owens, who happened to be black, was the most successful athlete in the games, winning four gold medals, and thus shattering Hitler's Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy.