Italy Suffers Tough Loss, Gets Trolled With Pineapple Pizza

Hong Kong's Cheung Ka Long became the third man to defend his title in the individual foil, a fencing event, on Monday. In doing so, he unknowingly launched what the South China Morning News describes as an "all-out war" online. Ka Long had narrowly defeated Italy's Filippo Macchi in a match that "turned to a sudden-death situation between the two as video was reviewed, and judges abstained from awarding the 15th point two times, after there were disputes over who won it," according to Olympics.com. Afterward, the Italian Fencing Federation declared Macchi the "real winner" and said it would file a formal complaint over "unacceptable refereeing," per the New York Times.

Supporters of the athletes were soon trading insults online, including on Cheung's Instagram page. But while Italian supporters claimed a gold medal had been "stolen," users from Hong Kong chose to take aim in an unusual way: describing their love of food items many Italians abhor. "I like pineapple pizza and pasta with soy sauce," one user wrote on Instagram, per the Morning Post. Others "uploaded pictures of themselves eating pizza to express solidarity with Cheung," per Reuters. Pizza Hut Hong Kong and Macao then entered the fray, announcing free pineapple on any pizza in celebration of Hong Kong's Olympic medals, including another gold won by fencer Vivian Kong.

The two fencing golds are cause for "major celebration" in Hong Kong, as they doubled the territory's total historical gold medal count, per the Times. But Italy's Olympic Committee remains unhappy. It's filed complaints over the final point and the referees, who hail from South Korea and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei). The committee argues those countries' geographic closeness to Hong Kong raises the possibility of bias. Meanwhile, Macchi is taking it all in stride. "A long time ago, a person dear to me, as well as a great champion, told me: 'You always celebrate a medal!'" he wrote on social media, per the Times. "And indeed this medal deserves joy and happiness," he said of his silver. (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)