Do photos show Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni scowling in response to two female athletes kissing at the Olympics? No, that's not true: News agency video proves that the photos were taken at a volleyball match. Italy's Alice Bellandi celebrated her gold medal win in women's judo by kissing her partner and fellow judoka, Jasmine Martin.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on August 2, 2024. The post included one photograph of the kiss, two photographs of Meloni and read:
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacts to two girls kissing at the Olympics.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Aug 2 12:47:37 2024 UTC)
All the post's photographs appear genuine, but they are out of context.
The images of Meloni were taken at an August 1, 2024, volleyball match between Italy and the Netherlands at the Paris Olympics. This video shows the prime minister at that match. Note that the people next to her in the video at the 37-second mark are the same people in one of the post's photographs.
By contrast, the photograph showing two female athletes kissing was taken immediately after Italy's Bellandi won the gold medal in women's judo -78 kg (172 pounds). She celebrated by kissing Martin, her partner and fellow judoka.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris can be found here.
