OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: British gold to stand despite Hindes admitting he fell deliberately

By Sportsbeat staff, London 2012

GREAT Britain's team sprint cycling gold will stand despite Philip Hindes claims he crashed on purpose after a poor start.

FALLER: Philip Hindes crashed in the opening metres of Great Britain's team sprint qualifying - they went on to win gold

Hindes, who was riding with Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, admitted he had deliberately crashed in the opening metres of their qualifying run in order to get another chance.

Officials from the French team, who won the silver medal, now want rules re-examined, although cycling's world governing body insisted nothing would be done until the Games had concluded and been reviewed.

Regulations refer to a team being given a restart 'in the event of a mishap'. The word 'mishap' is not defined but it is generally accepted that this refers to some sort of mechanical failure, not a fresh attempt if the team has simply made a poor start to their race.

Hindes certainly made a bad start to Great Britain's first run and told reporters had he crashed 'on purpose to get a restart' and that it was 'all planned'.

British Cycling later suggested the comments were lost in translation with German-born Hindes only moving to their training base in Manchester after switching allegiances thanks to his British father.

Asked if the International Olympic Committee would be looking at the result, spokesman Mark Adams said: "At present there are no plans to do so. Our view is that people were not deprived of a contest.

"I have spoken to the UCI and they obviously aware of the situation. At at this stage they don't see any reason to question the result and neither do we."

© Sportsbeat 2012