Olympics:German-born British rider Philip Hindes said 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 Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny went on to win gold after beating France.
"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart," Hindes told the BBC after the final. "I just crashed. I did it on purpose to get a restart... it was all planned really."
British Cycling said his comments were "lost in translation", adding the rider only started to learn English in October 2010, while the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed the result was not in question.
In the post-race press conference, Hindes denied it was deliberate when asked directly about his earlier comments. “No. I just went out the gate and just lost control, just fell down,” he said. “My back wheel slipped and totally lost control and I couldn’t handle the bike any more and just crashed.”
The France coach Florian Rousseau was asked about the controversial episode involving Hindes, and believes it was quick thinking on the British rider’s part that rescued home hopes. “He played it well,” Rousseau said on lequipe.fr.
“At the start he missed his departure. Twice his wheel jumped. He saw that he would not do a good time. What does he do? He throws himself on the floor. He deliberately fell. If things go wrong, you fall and it’s false start.”
The incident follows closely on the heels of the women's badminton doubles scandal that erupted earlier this week. Eight players - four from South Korea and two from China and Indonesia - were expelled from the Olympics for throwing matches in a bid to secure more favourable draws in the knockout stages later in the tournament.