Ollie Wood breaks silence after Team GB cyclist ‘headbutted’ by rival | Other | Sport
Ollie Wood says he felt like he was “rear-ended by a lorry” after Dutch rival Jan-Willem van Schip was accused of deliberately headbutting the Team GB cyclist in the men’s Madison final.
Great Britain’s prospects of a medal were hindered in a nasty-looking incident with 39 laps to go when Van Schip crashed into Wood, his head directly colliding into the 28-year-old rider from Wakefield’s helmet.
The incident sent Wood tumbling off his bike as he and team-mate Mark Stewart ultimately ended up in 10th in the 200-lap, 50km race. Portugal were the surprise gold medal winners.
Some viewers accused Van Schip of deliberately smashing into Wood with legendary British Olympian Sir Chris Hoy suggesting his compatriot could have suffered concussion in the incident.
And Wood told Eurosport: “I’m alright, I feel like I’ve been rear-ended by a lorry, that’s all. Everyone’s gone so deep. Van Schip especially, I’ve seen him go real deep before. He’s obviously not looking and just ploughed straight into me.”
He added to journalists afterwards: “Say what you want. I didn’t see anything. I have no clue, absolutely no clue. All I know is I got hit really hard from behind by literally the biggest rider on the track.
“I don’t know what I have done but my knee really hurts and my a*** really hurts. He hit me so hard. I felt like a crash test dummy I am alright, I will survive. I will live to fight another day.”
While six-time Olympic gold medal winner Hoy said on the BBC: “It was clearly Van Schip’s error there. You are trying to skim past the rider and not go too far on the bend but he misjudged it.
“He absolutely whacked him on the head. I would not be surprised if he is concussed from that. He would not be expecting it either. His body would be loose and completely relaxed and then out of nowhere getting a massive hit. I really felt for him there.”
GB eventually finished on -9 points after being lapped, which left them unable to get on the podium. The Madison rewards teams with 20 points for whoever can lap the pack.
That is exactly what Portugal managed as they secured gold in the event. Stewart reacted to Eurosport: “We knew we’d go out and the gear would feel small. We just hoped the race would come to us, sort of conservative. But the race never slowed down.
“We looked to latch onto a team taking a lap. We sort of knew how to. We knew how to execute it. At the end of the day we just lacked what those top teams have and that’s sport, isn’t it?”
There were several crashes during a hectic final which saw Spain’s Albert Torres also involved in a nasty collision at the National Velodrome in Paris.
The Madison hands five, three, two and one point(s) for teams who are placed first to fourth in sprints at 10-lap intervals. Double points are on offer for the 20th and final sprint.
The team who accumulates the most points wins and Portugal ended on 55, silver medallists Italy securing 47 and Denmark winning bronze on 41. The Team GB duo ended on -9 although that was not as bad as 13th-placed Australia’s -49.
