Olympic gold medal event cancelled mid-race in incident 'never seen before at Olympic level'
Olympic viewers were left stunned when a gold medal event was called off twice during the same afternoon.
Day six of the Paris Olympics is now underway and we've seen yet another day filled with drama and sporting events.
From a women's boxing match ending after just 46 seconds, and a Turkish athlete making headlines for his choice in attire as he bagged a silver medal in the men's shooting event, there has been plenty of headline making moments in the French capital.
But one of the biggest blows came 773.1 km south of Paris in the city of Marseille, when the men's gold medal skiff event was abruptly cancelled mid-race.
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Viewers watching the event live from home were stunned to see the race end suddenly, as low wind speeds meant that officials deemed it 'unfair' for competitors.
BBC One commentator Niall Myant was also surprised by the move, revealing that he'd never seen anything like this before in Olympic sailing.
"I have never seen that in a medal race at the Olympic level," he said.
"I can only imagine it's because the breeze has drifted so dramatically the committee have decided it's unfair so they've abandoned the race. Quite the moment. That would have been a really hard decision."
For a SECOND time, the medal race of the men's skiff sailing has been abandoned due to a lack of wind in Marseille. 😬#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/KdHF8qiw5k
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 1, 2024
He continued: "These are the best of the best, they train and work at this, they commit themselves to making the playing field as level as possible and they obviously felt that it was unworkable, it was pushing boats forward that shouldn't have been there and they've decided to let this one go.
"Great Britain were not having the greatest race. I cannot believe we have abandoned a medal race."
Team GB's James Peters and Fynn Sterritt were sixth when the race was called off, while Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trittel were in the lead.
Organisers restarted the race later on in the afternoon, however the event was cancelled yet again due to the wind conditions.
Reacting to the second cancellation, Myant shared his disappointment for Team GB duo Peters and Sterritt, adding that they 'were just making moves into the race'.
Viewers at home were understandably frustrated by the disruption to the event, with one person making their frustrations clear on social media: "I’m sorry but the Paris olympics is chaos.. from the pollution in the water, boxing controversy and now the sailing.
"For a country which could be described as one of the greatest sailing nations with some of the best sailing locations to have to abandon a medal race twice."
Team GB's current medal count - 20
Gold medallists
- Rosalind Canter, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen: Equestrian - Eventing team
- Tom Pidcock: Mountain Bike - Men's cross country
- Nathan Hales: Shooting - Men's trap
- Tom Dean, Kieran Bird, James Guy, Jack McMillan, Matthew Richards, Duncan Scott: Swimming - Men's 4x200m freestyle
- Alex Yee: Men's triathlon
- Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Georgina Brayshaw: Rowing - Women's quadruple sculls
Silver medallists
- Anna Henderson: Cycling - Women's individual timetrial
- Adam Peaty: Swimming - Men's 100m breaststroke
- Tom Daley and Noah Williams: Diving - Men's synchronised 10m platform
- Adam Burgess: Canoe Slalom - Men's canoe single
- Matthew Richards: Swimming - Men's 200m freestyle
- Kieran Reilly: Cycling - Men's BMX Freestyle
- Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten: Rowing - Women's coxless four
Bronze medallists
- Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen: Diving - Women's synchronised 3m springboard
- Kimberley Woods: Canoe - Women's slalom
- Laura Collett: Equestrian - Eventing individual
- Beth Potter: Women's triathlon
- Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson: Diving - Women's synchronised 10m platform
- Oliver Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson: Rowing - Men's coxless four
- Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Becky Wilde: Rowing - Women's double sculls
Brenna Cooper