Olympic 110m hurdler who lost race 'intentionally' by jogging explains why he did it
Following Team USA athlete Freddie Crittenden's bizarre decision to 'intentionally' fall behind on the track, sports fans have called the controversial new repechage rounds that have been introduced at the Olympics into question.
The 30-year-old has confessed he was playing the long game when it comes to earning a spot in the semi-finals of the Men's 110m hurdles, rather than putting his all in during the first heat today (4 August).
Viewers were left stunned while watching him end up rows behind his international competitors as he jogged through the race, ultimately earning himself a time of 18.27 seconds while coming in last.
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Sengal's Louis Francois Mendy won with a time of 13.31 seconds, so you can see how Crittenden's leisurely approach cost him on the track.
But rather than him simply throwing his chance at Olympic glory down the drain, the hurdler was actually sauntering his way along as he was secure in the knowledge that he had the repechage rounds to fall back on as a safety net.
Even though he was the last one over the line, Crittenden has the opportunity to pull it back on Tuesday (6 August) thanks to the introduction of the new rules for sprinters and hurdlers involved in individual track events from 200m to 1500m.
The repechage rounds, which loosely translates to 'second chance' from French, give athletes who have been knocked out of the competition in the early stages another go at going for gold.
The Paris Games is the first Olympics to have repechage rounds, as the move comes after World Athletics (WA) - which is the sport's governing body - introduced these in some events in 2022.
WA President Sebastian Coe said while announcing the news: "The repechage rounds will give more exposure to our sport during the peak Olympic period and will be carefully scheduled to ensure that every event on our Olympic programme retains its share of the spotlight."
As Crittenden was well aware he'd have another go on Tuesday if it all went Pete Tong today, he decided to be strategic.
Following his flop, he told reporters that he jogged on purpose to protect his body due to a sore muscle in his leg.
Speaking to NBC, the Missouri-born star explained: "It was an intentional choice.
"Everyone gets through to the repechage... So I decided to just, not make an emotional choice, make a smart choice, give my body time to recover a little bit from being aggravated, lean on my medical doctors, lean on God, and just wait for the repechage round, come out here and try to kill it in the repechage round."
Essentially, if he'd given his all today and didn't make it into the top three, he'd still be competing in the repechage rounds anyway - but he'd have put further strain on his body, rather than saving his stamina for this upcoming week.
As well as this, Crittenden would have risked aggravating his injury further.
But some fans don't think this is exactly fair on the other athletes, with a string of social media users saying him 'using the heat as a warm up' shouldn't be allowed.
Crittenden said he was 'doing well' after the race, explaining he had 'a little bit of aggravation in his adductor from his pre-meet', but that Team USA medical staff said it was 'not an injury'.
He told reporters: "There's just a lack of activation in my muscle and that's causing pain and discomfort. The plan was to come out here and get through the round.
"As long as I didn't get disqualified or hit any hurdles, the idea was to get through and I'll have another opportunity to run in the repechage round.
"I wanted to get here and make sure it didn't feel any worse and make it through and give it everything I've got on Tuesday.
"If there wasn't a repechage round, I probably would've just balls to the wall, run as hard as I could, crashed and burned, whatever happens."
I guess we will see if Crittenden's controversial tactic paid off on Tuesday.
Olivia Burke