French athlete Morhad Amdouni is at the centre of a social media storm after footage circulated of the long-distance runner knocking over bottles of water intended for other athletes during the Tokyo 2020 marathon event.
The clip shows Amdouni sweeping off an entire table's worth of bottles before grabbing one for himself.
He has been slammed for acting in a manner not becoming of the Olympic spirit, with some even going so far to suggest that the Frenchman's actions should be deemed as cheating.
One comment on Twitter read: "Acts like that should result in instant disqualification from the event and if clearly deliberate long term suspensions for all events. Lowest of the lows"
Another onlooker wrote: "I’m fairly certain he wasn’t practicing a dominoes trick, there is only one reason he did that and he should hang his head in shame, hopefully upon reflection he will realize what a selfish act that was."
Some commentators have defended Amdouni's actions, claiming they were an error and pointing out that there is another table stacked with water bottles just beyond where the clip ends.
One such justification read: "There was another table of water just down the road out of camera shot. He genuinely tries to pick one up while running at 3 mins /km. Very very hard to do. The second table meant no one would go without.
"Watch the next 10 seconds of race b4 you judge him."
Not everyone was willing to accept these explanations however.
"An angry responder wrote: "BS. This isn’t his first marathon. He knows how to pick up a water bottle or a cup. Can imagine knocking over a couple (5 max) but an entire row? No way that’s no deliberate. Poor sportsmanship."
Amdouni is a the current European champion over 10,000 metres and has no history of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Amdouni finished 17th in the race on Sunday morning, which was won by Kenyan legend Eliud Kipchoge. Dutchman Abdi Nageeye picked up the silver medal, while his training partner Bashir Abdi from Belgium won bronze.
