Some accuse him of gross unsportsmanlike conduct, others defend him: the Frenchman Morhad Amdouni caused outrage at the Olympic marathon. In a refreshment station, the runner brought down several drinking bottles, the competition reached nowhere.
Was he intentionally putting his competitors at a disadvantage or was he just being very uncoordinated in the face of the effort? An action by the French runner Morhad Amdouni in the Olympic marathon race caused outrage and discussion on social networks.
A video shared on Twitter by ex-top runner Ben St Lawrence, among others, shows Amdouni walking past a refreshment station, wiping a row of water bottles set up for the athletes almost completely from the table with his hand, only to then grab the last one. The Dutchman and later silver medalist Abdi Nageeye, who was placed directly behind him, can no longer grasp a bottle.
Numerous users accused Amdouni, European champion of 2018 over 10,000 and 5000 meters, in comments of gross unsportsmanlike conduct, others defended him and tried to explain the scene, among other things, with his exhaustion. The high running speed (around 20 kilometers per hour), the very advanced distance (kilometers 28 from 42.195) and the external conditions made hand-eye coordination extremely difficult, according to one comment.
Amdouni does not address the bottle incident
In fact, the marathon held in Sapporo last Sunday turned into the heat battle feared beforehand (). Temperatures of 30 degrees and extremely high humidity demanded everything from the athletes, around 30 runners, including some medal candidates, gave up the race prematurely.
Amdouni, who was still in the top group at the time of the bottle campaign, also had to pay tribute to the harsh conditions and let several competitors pull away in the further course. In the end he reached the finish in 17th place, almost six minutes behind the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (2:08:38 hours), who was only the third runner in the 125-year history of the Olympics to win gold in a marathon for the second time.
How the curious scene in the refreshment station came about was initially unclear. Amdouni turned to his fans on Instagram after the race, but didn’t say a word about the incident itself. It shouldn’t have been decisive for the race anyway: just a few meters later, a second table with water bottles was set up, at which those who had previously run out of water could refresh themselves.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
