Yesterday, we learned that four teams – eight women – were disqualified and expelled from the Olympics for intentionally tanking Badminton matches. Today, we learn that if you intentionally crash in Cycling, it can lead to Gold.
Philip Hindes says that he deliberately crashed after making a poor start in the heats of the Olympic track cycling team sprint, an event in which he and fellow Britons Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny went on to win gold.
"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart," Hindes was quoted by British newspapers as saying.
"I just crashed. I did it on purpose to get a restart... it was all planned really."
Hindes, who was starting for the Brits, seemed to have trouble with his front wheel and crashed after a quarter of a lap in the match against Germany.
After Britain were allowed to restart, in accordance with UCI rules, Hindes made a cannonball opening to perfectly launch Kenny with Hoy finishing off in style.
British Cycling said his comments were "lost in translation", adding the German-born rider only started to learn English in October 2010. The International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed the result was not in question.
When you crash in a sprint, it is considered a false start, said French technical director Isabelle Gautheron. He added that Great Britain was the deserved winner but that the rules should be changed.
"The team sprint regulations should be changed. We need more clarity," Gautheron said. "But the best team won, they beat the world record twice, they deserved their victory. They played with the rules."
No comments:
Post a Comment