Brazilian surfer's Christ imagery sparks olympic controversy
It turns out that religious controversies surrounding the Olympic Games began even before the opening ceremony. Brazilian surfer Joao Chianca discovered this when his surfboard, adorned with an image of Christ, was deemed a religious symbol. The athlete claimed he had to remove it to avoid being disqualified from the competition.
The portal Diedsuddently describes the surfer's story on social media. Joao Chianca shared it on his Instagram, but he eventually deleted it.
According to him, two weeks before the Games, the Brazilian received an order to remove the image of Jesus Christ from his surfboard, or else he would be excluded from the competition.
Chianca commented in the now-deleted Instagram story that he is not authorised to place Jesus on his board because "Christ is a religious figure," and "the Games have strict rules and focus on total neutrality."
Joao appears to have complied and is competing today, do you believe he should have stood his ground and dropped out? - ask the authors of a post on portal X.
Although religious neutrality is indeed part of the rules of the Games, many people point out the inconsistency of this rule with what was shown during the opening ceremony. "They violated their own rules," wrote one internet user.
