Morhad Amdouni became a major talking point on social media last week after he was criticized for knocking over his opponents’ water bottles during the men’s marathon event in Tokyo.
The Olympic French runner is defending his actions after he took to social media to address knocking over an entire row of water bottles before grabbing one for himself, leaving none for the opponents behind him.
The 33-year-old explains that the bottles were “slippery” and he accidentally knocked the row over while attempting to just grab the first bottle.
“To guarantee freshness to the bottles, these are soaked in water. Which makes them slippery,” he explained in a Facebook post. “It is clear that I am trying to get one from the beginning of the row but these slide when we barely touch them.”
He added in another video on his Instagram that exhaustion also played a role.
“With fatigue and all that, I was gradually starting to lose lucidity and energy, while hanging on,” he said, via RMC Sport. “I would like to apologize to the athletes.”
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“At one point, I tried to hold a bottle of water but I dropped some. It was not easy, trying to be able to hang on”
Amdouni faced major backlash, but it did not help him much as he finished in 17th place.
