Olympic runnersGeorge Millsfrom Great Britain andHugo Hayfrom France exchanged elbows during the latest 5000m qualifying heat, resulting in a domino effect that caused four other athletes to fall and the rest to scramble to continue amid the chaos.
Hay remained upright and continued running, but Mills, alongside Thierry Ndikumwenayo from Spain, Dominic Lokinyomo from the Refugee Team, Moh Ahmed from Canada, and Mike Foppen from the Netherlands, fell on the tracks and were thus unable to compete properly.
HighlightsGeorge Mills and Hugo Hay exchanged elbows, causing a domino effect with four other athletes falling.Mills confronted Hay after the race, claiming Hay pushed him aside, causing the incident.Judges reinstated four of the affected competitors, but Canada’s Moh Ahmed’s appeal was denied.
After crossing the finish line, Mills caught up to Hay and reportedly shouted obscenities while furiously pointing his finger at him.
“I’m probably not allowed to [reveal] what I said,” the athlete told theBBC.
TheBritish athletewould later explain that he believed Hay pushed him aside in order to try to break ahead, causing his legs to get tangled up.
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Disastrous 5,000m race ends with five athletes on the floor after a collision between Britain’s George Mills and France’s Hugo Hay causes a domino effect
Image credits:Olympics
“I think it’s pretty clear. I got stepped out on as I was about to kick in the home straight and boom, theFrench ladtook me down.”
Upon reviewing theincident, judges decided to reinstate four of the affected competitors, with only Canada’s Moh Ahmed having his appealdenied.
Mills, on the other hand, believes that the measure ultimately had nothing to do with his qualification, as heexpressed confidencein his ability to win theracehad the accident not happened.
Image credits:Petersen/Getty
“From my perspective that was the perfect qualifier for me, going through the first 2k in six minutes. I was like: ‘Nobody in this field can run away from me at this pace’, so I was just sitting, waiting, biding my time, gonna kick off the home straight then bang, hit the deck. What can you do?”
Some experts, such as formerOlympicsilver medallist Steve Cram, were not as sure as Mills and expressed their doubts about his performance.
“George was in a bad position from a long way out, he should have checked out much earlier,” Cram explained.
“There’s lots of experienced men in there and yes, everyone thinks they can kick, but when you get to that situation [very slow pace] the chances of people going down are incredibly increased.”
Image credits:georgemills800
“At the end, there was a big pile-up,” heexplained. “The Englishman came to tell me it was my fault, so I went to look at the slow-motion replay. As far as I’m concerned, it was someone else who pushed me and I just put my elbow in.”
Accidents continued to plague the event as the second heat concluded with another fallen athlete and the unexpected intervention of a cameraman
The accidents would continue in the next heat of the event, as at one point, a cameraman was seen wandering into the path of the runners midway through therace, making them suddenly change course.
Another athlete, American Abdihamid Nur, also fell and ultimatelyfinished last.
The top places for the first qualifying event, in which the four-man accident took place, saw Norway’s Narve Nordas, Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet, and Belgium’s John Heymans arrive at first, second, and third places, respectively.
The finals of the 5000m men’s long-running event will take place this Saturday (August 10), and it will come with the participation of a total of 20 athletes – as opposed to the usual 16 – due to the accident.
Image credits:hugo.hay
“This was absolutely wild to watch. I realize rules change with theOlympics, but if pushing and bumping isn’t allowed on the high-school track, why allow it for the Olympics?” asked one viewer.
“It looked like it was George Mills’ fault but then he claimed he was ‘moved out on’ in the interview afterwards,” theorized another.
“Look at it in slow-mo and you’ll see Hugo Hay pushes George Mills, then George’s arm comes out to steady himself,” replied one user.
“There’s no place for that kind of reaction,” wrote one user as others joined in to lament the incident and the altercation it caused
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