Photo: Jan Kruger/Getty
French runner Morhad Amdouni is shutting down claims of Olympic sabotage after his controversial water bottle incident during the men’s marathon.
During Sunday’s men’s marathon — one of the last events of theTokyo Olympics— temperatures reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. Throughout the race, refreshment stations were available with water bottles to keep runners hydrated.
As Amdouni went to grab a water bottle for himself at one point in the race, he knocked down several others on the table. Shortly after, Australian runner Ben St Lawrenceshared a videoof the moment, which went viral as many questioned whether Amdouni’s actions were deliberate.
“Thoughts on Amdouni knocking over an entire row of water before taking the last one?” the Olympian captioned the post.
Many slammed Amdouni online, calling the act unsportsmanlike.
One personwrote on Twitter, “French Olympian Morhad Amdouni knocking over all the water bottles (before taking the last for himself) today in the Men’s Marathon. Unsportsmanlike.” Another personadded, “Morhad Amdouni was simply cheating here. Banned from competition for a while I hope.”
However, many others on social media defended the runner, giving him the benefit of the doubt due to the conditions of the race.
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AnotherTwitter usersaid, “It is not deliberate at all. After nearly 30km with this temperature, it can be difficult to grab something. Also specific bottles for each participant are available before the video. In this longer video, we can also see that there is also a second table 15m after.”
Amdouni later responded to the backlash online, saying that the incident was not deliberate.
“To put an end to all the controversy from the video, I show this video to actually understand what happened,” hewrotein a social media statement translated from French, according toEurosport. “To guarantee freshness to the bottles, they are soaked in water, which makes them slippery. However, it is clear that I am trying to get one from the beginning of the row but they slip as soon as we touch them.”
Amdouni ultimately finished 17th in two hours, 14 minutes, and 33 seconds.
source: people.com
