Mark Cavendish insists Olympic omnium crash was not intentional
By James Dale
Last Updated: 16/08/16 5:43pm
Britain’s Mark Cavendish has apologised to South Korea's Sanghoon Park after causing a crash in the final event of the men’s omnium at Rio 2016.
Park had to be put in a neck brace and left the points race on a stretcher, while eventual gold medal winner Elia Viviani of Italy was also brought down in the incident.
After the race, in which Cavendish won his first Olympic medal, the 31-year-old received criticism suggesting he had intentionally caused the crash.
"It's sad that people think I'd do something on purpose," Cavendish said. "It was my fault, the crash.
"I sent him a message this morning. He's all right. I felt terrible, I really did. It was my fault but it's not malicious, it's not on purpose.
"To even insinuate that, it's not very fair. We're racing over six days, it's a hard event. I'm just sorry I've caused him some pain really."
Cavendish was also involved in controversy earlier in the six-race event when he indicated he had deliberately slowed down in the individual pursuit to avoid breaking Sir Bradley Wiggins' Olympic record and invoke unwanted headlines.
However, after appearing to hint Wiggins wanted to be the "hero" of Team GB, Cavendish played down reports of a feud between the pair and revealed Wiggins had already sent him a message after the final omnium race.
"It's been blown out of proportion," said Cavendish.
"I'm so proud, not just of the four British lads, the British cycling team, but the whole British team."
Cavendish suggested the silver medal does not quite compare with his other cycling achievements, but insisted he is proud of his achievement.
"In terms of cycling, it's not really there with stuff I've done as a cyclist," he added.
"But as a British athlete, this is the biggest stage I can represent my country at, which is the Olympic Games. I proud to represent my country, I'm proud to be British."
