London 2012: IOC wont investigate fake crash by British cyclist
Britain's Philip Hindes told reporters he crashed in the team sprint final to get a restart.
An apparent deliberate crash by British cyclist Philip Hindes in the team sprint final is not being investigated by the International Olympic Committee.
Hindes told reporters that team strategy was if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart.
The 19-year-old wobbled starting the three-lap race against France and fell at the first bend. The British trio, which also includes Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy, won the gold medal in the restarted race.
Thursdays incident raised further questions about athletes ethical behaviour at the Games after four womens badminton pairs were disqualified for playing to lose.
I just crashed, I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride. I did it. So it was all planned, really, Hindes reportedly said after the race.
He modified his comments at the official news conference to say he lost control of his bike.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said it agreed with the International Cycling Union that the result is not in question.
They are obviously aware of the situation, and at this stage they dont see any reason to question the result. At this stage neither do we, Adams told reporters.
The badminton scandal saw teams from China, Indonesia and South Korea expelled from the Olympics on Wednesday for deliberately losing in order to manipulate their route through the knockout stages. The teams were booed off court by spectators at Wembley Arena.
Adams said the cycling incident was different because paying fans were not deprived of a competition.
The race took place and I believe we could clearly say that best efforts were made in that competition by the British team, he said.
French officials did not formally complain about the British tactic.
You have to make the most of the rules. You have to play with them in a competition and no one should complain about that, the French teams technical director, Isabelle Gautheron, told Associated Press.
Still, Gautheron doubted that her riders would have done the same thing.
Hindes prepared for that possibility and knew exactly what to do after his poor start. We dont share the same kind of mindset, she said.
London 2012: IOC won
----------------
Let's start to tally how many Indians and Vietnamese will condemn the Brits and IOC as they did with the Chinese.
Britain's Philip Hindes told reporters he crashed in the team sprint final to get a restart.
An apparent deliberate crash by British cyclist Philip Hindes in the team sprint final is not being investigated by the International Olympic Committee.
Hindes told reporters that team strategy was if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart.
The 19-year-old wobbled starting the three-lap race against France and fell at the first bend. The British trio, which also includes Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy, won the gold medal in the restarted race.
Thursdays incident raised further questions about athletes ethical behaviour at the Games after four womens badminton pairs were disqualified for playing to lose.
I just crashed, I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride. I did it. So it was all planned, really, Hindes reportedly said after the race.
He modified his comments at the official news conference to say he lost control of his bike.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said it agreed with the International Cycling Union that the result is not in question.
They are obviously aware of the situation, and at this stage they dont see any reason to question the result. At this stage neither do we, Adams told reporters.
The badminton scandal saw teams from China, Indonesia and South Korea expelled from the Olympics on Wednesday for deliberately losing in order to manipulate their route through the knockout stages. The teams were booed off court by spectators at Wembley Arena.
Adams said the cycling incident was different because paying fans were not deprived of a competition.
The race took place and I believe we could clearly say that best efforts were made in that competition by the British team, he said.
French officials did not formally complain about the British tactic.
You have to make the most of the rules. You have to play with them in a competition and no one should complain about that, the French teams technical director, Isabelle Gautheron, told Associated Press.
Still, Gautheron doubted that her riders would have done the same thing.
Hindes prepared for that possibility and knew exactly what to do after his poor start. We dont share the same kind of mindset, she said.
London 2012: IOC won
----------------
Let's start to tally how many Indians and Vietnamese will condemn the Brits and IOC as they did with the Chinese.
