Yohann Diniz medal went down the toilet after accidentally ‘defecating’ mid-race

Diniz waved goodbye to any hopes of Olympic gold at the 2016 Games in Rio thanks to an alleged bowel movement during his 50km race walk

Diniz quest for Olympic gold met an unfortunate end at the 2016 Rio Games due to an untimely mishap. The 46-year-old French race walker, participating in the 50km event, faced a challenging situation when he reportedly experienced a bowel incident during the race.

Favored to clinch the top podium spot, Diniz’s race took a dramatic turn around the 15km mark when he collapsed, complaining of stomach pain. Before this, he was seen using a sponge to clean a brown substance, believed to be feces, from the back of his legs. Despite this setback, Diniz demonstrated remarkable resilience, rising to complete the race in eighth place with a time of 3:46:43.

Yohann Diniz:

The gold medal was ultimately secured by Slovakia’s Matej Toth, who finished with a time of 03:40:58, followed by Australia’s Jared Tallent with silver, and Japan’s Hirooki Arai taking bronze. This incident wasn’t Diniz’s first Olympic setback.

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At the 2012 London Olympics, Diniz faced disqualification after finishing the race for taking a bottle of water outside a designated refreshment zone around the 38km mark, nullifying his eighth-place finish.

Despite these Olympic challenges Diniz has enjoyed significant success in other major competitions. He has won gold at three European Championships (Gothenburg 2006, Barcelona 2010, and Zurich 2014) in the 50km walk and secured both gold and silver in the same event at the World Championships. Diniz also holds the world record for the fastest 50km walk, set with a time of 3:32:33 at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich.

This year, the 50km walk event has been removed from the Paris Olympics, replaced by shorter 20km competitions for both men and women, as well as a 35km mixed team race walk.