POINTING THE FINGER
Gaze apologises for comments
Kiwi mountainbike gold medallist Sam Gaze has apologised to teammate Anton Cooper after accusing him of poor sportsmanship following their race at the Commonwealth Games yesterday.
The 22-year-old Kiwi avenged his loss to Cooper in the same race at the 2014 Glasgow Games crosscountry race, producing a stunning final lap comeback on the Gold Coast yesterday.
Gaze later apologised for his post-race comments. ‘‘I have caught up with Anton and apologised personally,’’ Gaze said, ‘‘but I wanted to let the NZ team here on the Gold Coast and the NZ public know that I acted in the heat of the moment and will work on making sure this type of action doesn’t happen again.’’
He added in a Facebook post: ‘‘I’m a competitive guy and when I had that issue with my bike I thought my dream was over. I reacted badly and want to apologise for my words and my actions. I am really embarrassed for how I acted and how the impact of how special of a day it was was tainted by my actions.’’
Gaze had to enter the pits to fix a puncture on his rear tyre heading into the last lap, with Cooper attacking immediately.
Gaze was photographed showing his middle finger to Cooper as the latter shot off up the hill, but got back on his bike an angry man and somehow clawed his way back in just half of the final 4.5km lap, setting up a thrilling finish. Cooper then tried to attack him, but Gaze mowed him down and elbowed his way past on a descent before winning the sprint finish.
It was the initial attack on the last lap which riled Gaze.
‘‘There is good sportsmanship and there’s not, and I feel like that wasn’t there today,’’ he said straight after the race. ‘‘It’s a bit of a shame really, I’ve got the utmost respect for the guy, still, even with that move. That’s racing, you can’t get along with everyone.’’
When asked if getting back to win the race after the incident was satisfying, Gaze replied: ‘‘The good guys always win.’’
Cooper also produced the ‘‘that’s racing’’ line to describe the dramatic conclusion to the race, but didn’t think it was a case of bad sportsmanship.
‘‘I didn’t know what was happening. I saw he pulled in there and thought it was quite odd because it seemed like he had all the air in his tyre. I’d followed him all the way down the downhill, so I . . . thought something must have drastically gone wrong.
‘‘It’s not my job to sit around and wait at that point. That’s mountainbike racing, and I thought at that point I was going to have to get rid of South Africa if I wanted a chance at winning so I dropped the hammer up there.’’
In road racing, if a leading rider has a puncture mid-race the peloton will often slow to wait for them, but Cooper said no such etiquette existed in mountainbike racing. ‘‘There’s nothing like that. I can’t think of a situation where anyone would sit and wait. If someone has a mechanical issue, that’s rider-error. It’s the same as making a poor line choice, it’s just part of the game.’’
WHAT GAZE SAID
‘‘There is good sportsmanship and there’s not, and I feel like that wasn’t there today.’’
WHAT COOPER SAID
‘‘There was not more I could’ve done without actually pushing him into the trees, which wouldn’t quite be right.’’
Cooper said he did show sportsmanship when Gaze passed him on the last lap. ‘‘I tried to gradually come across to make him come around the outside, but he got across in the sticks and leaves and managed to get his way through there. There was not more I could’ve done without actually pushing him into the trees, which wouldn’t quite be right.’’
Kiwi team-mate Ben Oliver spent the early stages in a front group of four with the pair and bronze-medal winner South African Alan Hatherly. He eventually finished fourth.
In the women’s race, New Zealander Samara Sheppard had a puncture on the first lap and had to change her back wheel. She would eventually finish ninth, more than five minutes behind the winner, England’s Annie Last.