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Jack Burnell rant: Olympic swimmer blasts race officials

Raging Jack Burnell accused judges of “sticking their noses in” after his late disqualification from these Olympics ‘ 10km open water swimming race, writes Mike Walters in Rio.

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There was plenty of confusion after a dramatic finish, with Greece’s Spiros Gianniotis initially given the win before being downgraded to silver.

Burnell subsequently launched an appeal against the decision.

In an interview with the BBC he said: “This is meant to be the pinnacle of our sport and we have referees out there who don’t know what they are doing”. It’s ridiculous. The grandest stage of them all, ruined by a couple of judges’.

“There were about 600 boats out on the water that are not needed, and everyone on them has no idea idea what they are doing”. They’re giving yellow cards out for absolutely nothing when there’s people grabbing hold of legs and everything. The whole thing is a joke.

“In the end apparently I was disqualified, about 2m from finish”.

While the Brit managed to free himself from the Tunisian’s clutches and regain momentum, crossing the line in a photo finish for third, he was disqualified after the race for his role in the incident. Marc-Antoine Olivier of France and China’s Zu Lijun ended up in a tie for bronze.

“My first yellow was coming down the straight and I was second, no-one was either side of me and he pulls out a yellow card”.

“I couldn’t physically have touched anybody, even if I had had six-foot long arms”.

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“I felt a hand on my leg and it stops me dead, I took a few more strokes and he is still on my foot”.

Jack Burnell vents his spleen to the BBC cameras after the 10km open-water swim