Silver medal taken away; replaced with fine instead

RATHER than receiving a silver medal for her efforts in the team pursuit, Ellesse Andrews was instead given an unusual prize — a $336 fine.

The Wanakaraised cyclist was a late addition to the New Zealand team that claimed silver in Saturday’s final at Lee Valley VeloPark, having ridden to the rescue following Ally Wollaston’s wrist injury.

The highly fancied pursuit team needed four women on the start line to compete at these Commonwealth Games and, with no reserves in the squad, Andrews added to her busy schedule by filling the void.

With the team sprint her main focus — an event in which she would later win the first of her two gold medals in Birmingham — Andrews immediately dropped away from the quartet in both qualifying and the final against Australia, leaving her teammates to compete as a trio.

Michaela Drummond, Emily Shearman and Bryony Botha did a pretty good job of that, earning themselves and Andrews a silver medal that the sprint rider would have never expected before Birmingham.

And now it has been revealed it is one she will never receive.

With her sprint duties taking obvious precedence, Andrews did not attend the medal ceremony when the New Zealanders received their silver, and fell afoul of a bizarre UCI ruling.

According to an official communication released by the Commonwealth Games, Andrews has been punished for her absence with a fine of 200 Swiss francs ($NZ336), a loss of her silver medal and docking of any UCI points.

While the result will remain on Andrews’ record and she will still be known as a silver medallist in the team pursuit, she will not have the shiny piece of metal to show for her efforts.

Happily, the 22yearold can content herself with the team sprint gold she won on

Saturday and the individual sprint gold she claimed yesterday.