Rio de Janeiro

With eight gold medals through 12 days of the Rio Games, France isn’t having the best Olympics. Sure, the French have won events in fencing and equestrian, but it hasn’t been the glittering summer they were hoping for.

Yet, with a Gallic shrug and a quizzical expression, there remains one discipline where the French are blowing away the competition: complaining.

From the athletics stadium and the cycling velodrome to the handball court, the French Olympic team has excelled at the art of griping about opponents and grumbling about results.

French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie posted a personal best in this category when he was offended by the chorus of boos he received from Brazilian fans while losing to Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva on Monday. Speaking to reporters after the event, Lavillenie compared his reception with that of black American sprinter Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. Later, he apologized.