Brazil sport fans let it all out as they cheer on their men's beach volleyball team at the Rio Olympics.

The Rio Games are fast becoming the Boo-lympics and Brazilian fans have been told to show better sportsmanship.

The vocal locals have had plenty of targets at Rio 2016 – Russians have been a favourite because of the doping scandal; Argentine athletes have copped abuse because of the historic rivalry between the two countries; Spaniards have been victimised as symbols of Latin American colonialism; and any favourites have tended to cop a backlash as Brazil crowds sided with the underdogs.

Then, of course, there's anyone involved in a battle against a Brazilian as French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie found out two days in a row, first as he lost a gold medal battle with local hero Thiago Braz da Silva and then again at the medal ceremony. The French athlete was left in tears.

David Ramos/ Getty Images Brazil fans cheer wildly for their volleyball team at the Rio Olympics.

Each time he was greeted by a chorus of boos. That even caused an angry International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach to get involved.

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The big boss of the Games described the crowd's antics as the silver medal was handed to Lavillenie as "shocking behaviour," saying it was "unacceptable at the Olympics". And, behind the scenes, there has been work to address this latest embarrassment at a Games dogged by controversy.

Mark Kolbe/ Getty Images Fans show their support during the women's football semifinal between Brazil and Sweden at the Rio Olympics.

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada said booing needed to stop and they were launching a social media plan to try to eradicate it as the Games drew towards a close.

"Booing is not the right thing to do when you are competing at the Olympic level," Andrada said.

"As an organising committee and as a citizen of Brazil and a sports fan, we don't think booing is the right attitude, even when you're in one-to-one competition with a young Brazilian who has a chance to be the champion.

REUTERS Brazil fans make their feelings known during their team's Olympics basketball clash with traditional foe Argentina.

"We plan to intensify our dialogue with the Brazilian fans through social networks to make sure they behave as fans in the proper and elegant manner without losing the passion for sport."

The issue has drawn plenty of media attention - and explanations.

Brazilian sports sociologist Mauricio Murad suggested the unruly behaviour might have something to do with the hard time the country is experiencing.

He believed screaming from the stands was a primal act, reflecting frustration at a time when Brazil's president was facing impeachment and the country went through an economic crisis.

"Brazilians need to vent right now, and I think that's what we're seeing in the stands at the Olympics," he told Quartz.

But former Olympic champion Michael Johnson was appalled at the treatment dished out to Lavillenie.

"Those tears were tears of disappointment in this crowd. They should be ashamed. I can't let that go - it's not what competition is about," Johnson, the American former 400m world record holder, told the BBC.

"Support the person that you want to support, but you don't boo someone else simply because they're competing against the person you support. They started that during the competition, it wasn't proper etiquette.

"It's really a shame and I think that he was really hurt. To then boo on the medal stand having not learned the lesson to begin with...some don't know better, but some I talked to were saying 'that's not what you do'."