The proud parents of Australian bronze medallists have been denied the chance to watch their sons receive their medals by French authorities brandishing automatic machine guns.
Australia’s Opals completed their stunning comeback at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, beating Belgium to claim a bronze medal that had seemed unlikely early in the tournament.
The Australian women had suffered a shock defeat to Nigeria to open their campaign but injected new life into their tournament by beating hosts France on home turf.
They eventually fell to eventual gold medal winners the United States, but rallied strongly to claim an 85-81 victory in a bumpy thriller.
Their proud parents and relatives were in the stands cheering them on, but those cheers quickly turned to boos when French authorities prevented them from watching their sons receive their medals.
The Opals’ match against Belgium was part of a doubleheader at the Bercy Arena, with the bronze medal match played before the gold medal match between the United States and France.
The Australians only had tickets for the bronze medal match, so they had to leave the stadium while the gold medal match was being played.
However, when they tried to re-enter the arena to watch the medal ceremony, they were denied access.
Parents of the Australian Opals players desperately tried to get back to the venue to watch the medal ceremony but the armed officers would not budge.
The family of Australian Opals captain Tess Madgen were among those excluded.
Jade Melbourne was at her debut Olympics and her father Brett was not allowed to see her receive her medal.
Brett Melbourne, the proud father of 21-year-old Washington Mystics point guard Jade Melbourne, was filmed desperately trying to get inside only to be met with a wall of armed French authorities with their automatic weapons in plain view.
“It’s bad, buddy,” Brett pleaded with officers.
‘It’s stupid that you’re waiting until now (to stop people from entering the stadium).
“That’s nonsense. My daughter is going to receive a medal and I can’t watch her receive it.”
One of the officers repeatedly told the frantic parents, “I don’t know,” but did not elaborate on why they could not get past the line of officers to enter the stadium.
It was an emotional end to the Opals with Lauren Jackson and Cayla George withdrawing and Madgen (pictured) looking unlikely to compete at the Olympics again.
The parents asked officials to allow them in for that unique moment, but were flatly denied.
An unknown person in the crowd shouted: “Everything was fine for Serbia,” claiming that the parents of the Serbian male players were allowed to watch their sons receive their bronze medal the night before.
“I hope you don’t have any successful children, because you’ll be very disappointed,” another unknown person shouted at the officers.
A man who was filming the event asked Brett what was happening.
“We won the bronze medal. We were in the match, now we can’t get back in,” he said.
Another group added: “They are not letting any of the families in to see the medal ceremony.”
“If France won, would they let us in?” asked another.
Among the parents trying to get in were Gene and Deb Madgen, parents of Opals captain Tess Madgen, who had earlier scored the free kicks that sealed the result.
Happier times were experienced by Tess Madgen’s parents Deb and Gene and her brother, former AFL star Jack, earlier this week.
Gene and Deb have proudly supported their daughter throughout her basketball career.
Vanessa Rendell, Tess’s aunt, also spoke to a person who recorded the incident about the problems they were having getting back to the location.
“Our tickets will not allow us to see our families, our children, get their bronze medal,” he said.
‘We’ve been running around trying to get in, but we keep running into obstacles.
‘All they want is to see their children and get their bronze medal because they have never won one before.
“We can’t get in, they won’t let us in, even though we’ve been to the game before.”
At the time, Madgen’s mother, Deb, was furious and took it out on officials, who would not budge.
“Shame on you! You have ruined the entire Olympic Games for us,” he shouted.
Jade Melbourne (centre) with her family, including her parents Brett and Sharon and two younger sisters.
While the bronze medal was a first for young players like Melbourne, the win was also a fitting farewell for several retired players, including five-time Olympian Lauren Jackson and superstar Cayla George.
At 34, Madgen is unlikely to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“It’s crazy, I can’t believe it,” Jackson said, as Madgen called her the team’s “good luck charm.”
“The faith within the group never wavered,” Madgen added.
“We knew we hadn’t played well in that match, we knew we had to be at another level. It’s the Olympic Games. We weren’t prepared for that match, but we were prepared for all the ones that came after.”