Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka long, centre, winner of the gold medal in the men’s individual Foil competition, celebrates on the podium with silver medal winner Italy’s Filippo Macchi, left, and bronze medal winner United State’s Nick Itkin during the Paris Olympics 2024 on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
HONG KONG — Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka-long’s victory over Italy’s Filippo Macchi at the Paris Olympics has sparked an exchange of insults on social media, with Cheung’s supporters celebrating his win with posts about pineapple pizzas—widely considered a culinary blunder in Italian cooking.
Cheung made Hong Kong history on Tuesday by beating Macchi 15-14 in the men’s foil. That triumph made Cheung, who had won in the Tokyo Games in 2021, the first Hong Konger to bag two gold medals.
The bout required three stoppages for video reviews to determine the deciding point as the fencing machine registered scores from both fencers at about the same time. The final point was eventually awarded to Cheung, sparking protests from the Italian side.
The Italian Fencing Federation said in a statement that it would file a complaint to the International Olympic Committee and the International Fencing Federation about what it called “unacceptable” refereeing.
“Never seen anything like this. Filippo Macchi is the real winner and he was denied a gold he deserved,” Italian Fencing Federation President Paolo Azzi said.
Italy’s Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò suggested the selection of referees was problematic, saying “the two judges were from Taipei and Korea in a final between Italy and Hong Kong.”
Macchi’s supporters also left comments on Cheung’s Instagram account to express their grievances. One comment alleged that Cheung’s championship was “robbed” and Macchi should be the final winner.
In a mockery response, Hong Kongers replied with comments on Instagram about their love for pineapple pizza to defend Cheung and said they would have a lot of pineapple pizzas to celebrate the win.
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But Macchi eventually earned respect from some Hong Kongers after he posted on his Instagram to say that he knows both referees and he did not want to point a finger at them for his loss. He added their decisions have to be respected.
Cheung’s win also marked the first time Hong Kong has secured two gold medals in the same Olympics. Vivian Kong Man Wai last weekend won the individual epee for the semi-autonomous Chinese city.