The 35 year old Olympic volleyball gold medallist went live on Instagram in January, where he talked about his experience in a shooting range and told his audience his favourite weapon to use.

He then opened a question box which led to a member of his audience asking if he "would shoot Lula in the face", causing the player to create a poll asking, "Would anyone do this: yes or no?"

The COB has promised they will make their decision on the player within the next 30 days.

"The Ethics Council of the Brazilian Olympic Committee communicates the opening of an ethical disciplinary process against the athlete Wallace Leandro de Souza and the maintenance - for another 30 (thirty) days until final judgment - of the suspension established by the Council, as provided in article 13 , §1 of the Internal Regulations of the COB Ethics Council," the COB said on its website.

The Superior Court of Sports Justice also filed an action proposed by the Attorney General's Office, asking for Wallace to be suspended due to his controversial remarks.

While the investigation is concluded, Wallace has been ordered to remain away from volleyball for his club Sada Cruzeiro and the national team, who has played for since 2009, winning the Olympic silver medal at London 2012 and then the gold before his home crowd at Rio de Janeiro four years later.

Later, Wallace deleted the post and apologised for what happened.

"Anyone who knows me knows that I would never incite violence under any circumstances, especially to our President," he said.

"So, I come here to apologise, it was an unfortunate post that I ended up making. I was wrong."

As well as his success in the Olympic Games, Wallace was a member of the Brazilian teams that won silver medals in the World Championships at Poland in 2014 and Bulgaria in 2018, and the bronze in Poland and Slovenia last year. 

Wallace was also part of the team that won the gold medals at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara.