British cyclist and gold medal winner Philip Hindes has been quoted as suggesting the crash in the first round of the men's team sprint was deliberate.

London 2012 Olympics: Philip Hindes
Reuters

The team, of Hindes, Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, defeated France on Thursday night, in a World Record time of 42.600 seconds. The win also marked Hoy's fifth Olympic gold, making him the most decorated Olympian in British history. Unfortunately, Hindes' statements have thrown the win into some degree of controversy.

The incident involving Hindes happened early in the race and Olympic rules state an early crash can be cause for a race re-start. That was exactly what happened but the question remains - was it deliberate?

Hindes, 19, is a German-born athlete and consequently it is being claimed his remarks after the race, made in English, were improperly framed and led to a misinterpretation.

One of his quotes, made after the race to a BBC reporter, indicated the crash was deliberate: "I just did it to get the restart. My first wasn't the greatest so I thought to get the restart". When pressed for confirmation, Hindes responded: "Yes, I was trying to get a fast start and get everything perfect".

"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart. I just crashed, I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride. I did it. So it was all planned, really," the youngster was quoted as saying in a report by the Guardian.

However, as you would expect, Hindes moved to clarify matters, stating afterwards that he felt his rear wobble and he lost control of the cycle, which led to the crash.

"No. I just went out the gate and just lost control, just fell down," he said at the formal post-race press conference, "My back wheel slipped and totally lost control and then I couldn't handle the bike anymore and just crashed."

In either case, Hindes' quotes (or their interpretations) throws the London 2012 Olympic Games into deeper and more troubling waters, following confirmation of doping and concerns over unprofessional conduct in badminton and against boxing judgments.

Meanwhile, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has confirmed there will probably be no investigation into the matter; a stance also taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"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 this stage they don't see any reason to question the result and neither do we," Mark Adams, the IOC's communications director was quoted as saying.

Gold London