Mongolian wrestling coaches strip their clothes to protest match

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Two Mongolian wrestling coaches protested the controversial end of a wrestling match on Sunday by stripping down to their underwear in front of an arena full of people.

Yeah, just go ahead and put that under Olympic story ledes you never thought you’d read.

I’m definitely going to put it under the ones I never thought I’d write.

Seriously, though, if there were an Olympic competition for the absurd, what transpired at the end of a bronze medal match between Mongolia’s Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran and Uzbekistan’s Ikhtiyor Navruzov would have taken the gold.

So what provoked this impromptu striptease from the the Ulaanbataar chapter of Chippendales? Well, Mandakhnaran was leading 7-6 with just seconds left in the match when he started a premature celebration, backing away from Navruzov. The referee responded by penalizing the Mongolian wrestler a point as the clock expired. With Navruzov holding the tiebreaker, Mandakhnaran now suddenly was the loser.

While the wrestler himself looked upset, his reaction paled in comparison to two of his coaches —head coach Tserenbaatar Tsogtbayar and assistant coach Byambarenchin Bayaraa — disrobing in anger and eventually being led out of the arena by security as the crowd went wild.

Raise your hand if you remember Earl Weaver doing something similar back in the day.

To Mandakhnaran’s credit, he eventually went and congratulated Navruzov in a much better display of sportsmanship. He even managed to keep his singlet on while doing so.

From the shirtless Tongan flag bearer to the jiggling guts of two Mongolian wrestling coaches, the 2016 Rio Games officially have come full circle.

And yes, this is really the perfect sign that it’s just about time for everyone to head home.

Live from Rio: Ryan Lochte, international fugitive; the strange side of the Games:

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