So, Philip Hindes openly admitted on camera that he crashed on purpose as he knew the GB team had got a slow start, and that he knew they’d get a restart. Is this an accepted way of using the rules, or simply cheating? It seems to me that Pendleton and Varnish were guilty of far less, and were relegated. Somehow, this doesn’t feel right.

No he didn’t, you need to watch the full interview and not read the Daily Reich

Did seem a strange thing to say, perhaps lost in translation from his first language. On video he never seems to be on the bike. As Michael johnson Sadi seemed more biomechanical than mechanical.

if i was starting from a dead stop using an 80 odd gear, i’d keel over too.

He did make the comment just after the win, but said later he was joking.

I think it’s just a combination of a 19 year old lad that’s trying to be clever/cocky/funny and a bit of slight English/German humour confusion.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I did watch the full interview. Later attempts at saying his comments were ‘lost in translation’ sound like bull to me.

And they claim the Germans have no sense of humour 😆

Commentator at the time, rightly or wrongly, implied that it was intentional and the right thing to do.

It’s always amusing to see how johnny foreigner gets tied in knots when confronted with a good old idiom. That’ll learn ’em.

not any old commentator either.

i was giving him the benefit of the (mechanical) doubt.

only for Jamie Staff to say he’d jumped off.

I’d consider JS as an industry expert. interesting that he called him out straight away though…

Sorry to disappoint you, but I did watch the full interview. Later attempts at saying his comments were ‘lost in translation’ sound like bull to me.

Me too, seemed like backtracking to me.

It was Hinde’s own admission that wound me up – I know it’s an outdated view, but it just didn’t seem very sporting. Jeez, I’m starting to sound like P G Woodhouse!

He was being cocky (as in thinking we’d be even more impressed by him as a result) but he wasn’t joking and the follow-up comments he’s made are AFTER being schooled by Team GB in order to try and avert any controversy. I don’t think it was cheating as such but it was certainly un-sporting

But if he had just jumped off, i.e. there was no mechanical, why did the commisaires allow a restart? They certainly didn’t shy away from other big decisions yesterday.

If true sadly it’s as bad as the badminton so hand the medals back.

You are allowed one fall. Looks like he went off a bit wobbly and over-emphasised this, then fell in order to ,get the restart.

A fall counts as a reason for restart doesn’t it ? Doesn’t have to be mechanical failure.

(I still think it was deliberate like he said)

You are allowed one fall.

Ah, okay. I thought you only got a restart for a mechanical.

What recommendations would you guys give to a young lad in a post ride interview having just won the gold infront of the global audience that the Oylimpics is, in a second language? 😛

And they claim the Germans have no sense of humour

Actually Germans take humour very seriously!

i loved the subtle look on Hoy’s face when “kidology” and “pulling a fast one” went completely over Hinde’s head.

He went off wobbly, then got even more wobbly. He probably could have ridden it out but the race would have been lost, so he didn’t bother to try and recover. As stated above one fall per team is allowed. Admitting that he fell deliberately was not a great move, and will probably cause a rule change.

What recommendations would you guys give to a young lad in a post ride interview having just won the gold infront of the global audience that the Oylimpics is, in a second language?

If you cheated, best not to openly admit it.

That’s what I don’t get. As I said earlier, Pendleton and Varnish ended up relegated for something far less cynical. At the time it happened, I think everyone assumed it was a mechanical. It was, for me at least, Hindes comments after the race, and his apparent lack of embarrassment in admitting it, that boiled my wee. Sportspeople at this level shouldn’t resort to cheating – naive of me, I know, but it just doesn’t feel right.

What recommendations would you guys give to a young lad in a post ride interview having just won the gold infront of the global audience that the Oylimpics is, in a second language?

Well, third langauge really, the interviewer was Scotlandshireish 😉

It’s not cheating if it’s allowed in the rules, n’est-ce pas?

If you cheated, best not to openly admit it.

Did you pull a fast one?
❓

not cheating. in the rules.

Well if he gets a restart then why not Luis Leon Sanchez in the Time Trial. It seemed a bit harsh as his chain seemed to break before he even got to the tarmac.

his back wheel slipped

Well if he gets a restart then why not Luis Leon Sanchez in the Time Trial. It seemed a bit harsh as his chain seemed to break before he even got to the tarmac.

not in the rules. it’s quite straight forward.

heptathlon (on now) you’re allowed a false start. 100m you are not.

if it’s in the rules, it’s in the rules.

Maybe the fact that if you have a fall, you’re entitled to a restart is in the rules. Openly admitting (on camera) that you’d done it on purpose because you’d got a slow start is stretching things a bit though, or am I still being naive?

C’mon. Seriously. He crashed deliberately? Clipped in?

I think that the risk of injury during the fall, no matter how controlled, would negate that theory.

It’s not cheating no but you can’t honestly say if the French beat us and then admitted they’d done that we wouldn’t all be up in arms about it? The rule is there to allow for a genuine mishap given the explosive nature of the start, not so you can have a free second go at it by deliberately toppling over. If they don’t now have some sort of rule change I think it will become a very regular thing in the team sprint and that will be to the detriment of the event. Unfortunately the only real way of closing the loophole is to make crashing not a valid reason for a restart which in itself is unfortunate in the case of genuine ones.

edit: @coyote – they weren’t actually going that fast at the time and he ‘luckily’ fell onto the banked side so very little risk involved

Just shut up about it and watch the athletics instead.

Hoy’s face during the interview says it all as does the subsequent attempts to backtrack.

Young bloke make an error but understands the rules and uses then to his advantage

Young bloke admits it, leaving a slightly sour taste for the rest of us

Young bloke won the gold medal, the rules remain the rules, others may/will do the same

The world moves on……

Didn’t look like a slow start. Looked like he lost control though and fell because of the loss of control.

I would imagine that he made the comment without thinking about the consequences because it is an openly accepted strategy within the track cycling world. If it had been the germans that had done the same i doubt you would have heard Hoy and co moaning. The Daily Mail readers, on the other hand, would have been outraged.

It’s a simple choice; you go off with a big wobble, do you (a) struggle to control it but lose time in the process or (b) fall in order to get a restart. The rules allow the latter, so why wouldn’t you play within the rules?