Shocking moment team disqualified from Olympics final after athlete ‘head-butts’ rival
During a race at the Paris Olympics, a rider for Team GB claimed to have been “rear-ended by a lorry” after being hit by another rider.
On Saturday, Team Netherlands was fined heavily and disqualified from the men’s Olympic Madison final.
Today, August 11, marks the official end of the Paris 2024 Olympics. What a rollercoaster it has been.
It’s been quite the interesting one, from the boxing gender eligibility test row to the poor pole vaulter whose manhood got in the way.
With the madison final taking place on Saturday, the velodrome has been the center of attention for the final week of the Olympics.
Oliver Wood of Team GB fell hard when Dutch rider Willem van Schip seemed to hit his helmet from behind with just 39 laps left in the Paris race.
After the incident, Wood needed a concussion evaluation at the scene, but he was thankfully able to continue the race in tenth place.
Wood made the decision not to file a complaint about the incident because, given the team’s standings situation right now, there really wouldn’t be much use.
Wood looked pained and had a swollen knee when he staggered into talks with the world press.
“He gave me such a heavy blow. Wood said, “I felt like a crash test dummy.”
“I’ll make it through. I observed nothing. When you get hit from behind, it’s simply a little different because you don’t anticipate it.
At any given moment, a large number of individuals are both riding and resting. I assumed he would cut it a bit fine and just plow into me rather than take a high line around the track.
“I didn’t watch it again. I’m attempting to breathe. I am clueless, completely clueless. All I know is that the largest rider on the track literally slammed me quite hard from behind.
“At some point, everyone’s cognitive abilities began to deteriorate quickly; you could tell that certain people were experiencing attention deficits.
“When there are people all over the track, it is inevitable that people are going to collide wheels or whatever.”
“I don’t know what I have done, but my knee and a*** hurt a lot,” the Olympian said in closing. I feel as though a truck has rear-ended me.”
There's an incident in the cycling involving Great Britain 💥
Ollie Wood is down in the men's madison final after a collision with a Dutch rider – thankfully he seems OK afterwards 😬#Olympics #Paris2024 #BBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/21hcJ3FxZn
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 10, 2024
Though Wood was fortunately not gravely injured, the event was undoubtedly unpleasant.
“Team 6; Netherlands, has been disqualified following the review of an incident during the Men’s Madison,” the IOC stated in a statement.
“Illegitimate behavior and actions that put another rider in danger (hitting someone with a helmet).”
Van Schip was also fined one thousand Swiss francs, or $1,155.