Olympic surfer: It turned out that there were religious problems with the Olympics before the opening event. This is what Brazilian surfer Joao Chianca learnt when his surfboard with a picture of Christ on it was seen as a holy sign. The athlete said he had to take it off so he wouldn’t get kicked out of the race.

  • Incident Overview: Brazilian surfer Joao Chianca was asked to remove an image of Christ from his surfboard to avoid disqualification from the Olympic Games.
  • Social Media Reaction: The story was shared on social media by the portal Diedsuddently and Chianca himself on Instagram before deleting the post.
  • Rule Enforcement: Two weeks before the games, Chianca was ordered to remove the image to comply with the Olympics’ rules on religious neutrality.
  • Compliance: Chianca removed the image and continued to compete.
  • Public Debate: There is public debate on whether Chianca should have stood his ground and highlighted the inconsistency in the enforcement of the rules.
  • Inconsistency Allegations: Critics argue that the Olympics violated their own rules during the opening ceremony, questioning the fairness of the regulations.
  • Broader Tension: The incident highlights the ongoing tension between maintaining secular, neutral environments at international events and respecting personal religious expressions.

The magazine Died suddenly tells the surfer’s story in great depth on social media. It was shared on Instagram by Joao Chianca, but the post was later taken down.

Chianca says that two weeks before the games, someone told him to take the picture of Jesus Christ off his surfboard or else he would not be able to compete.

He said in his now-deleted Instagram story that he can’t put Jesus on his board because “Christ is a religious figure” and “the games have strict rules and focus on total neutrality.”

Joao seems to have given in and is competing today. Do you think he should have kept his ground and quit? —Ask the people who wrote a post on portal X.

https://twitter.com/SchottHappens/status/1817312348442701865

There is a rule that the games must be religiously neutral, but many people say that this rule doesn’t match up with what was shown at the opening event. One person on the internet wrote, “They broke their own rules.”

How the Muslim World is Responding to the Paris Olympics Insults

  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned perceived insults against Christianity at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
  • He emphasized that respect for Jesus Christ is a fundamental principle for Muslims.