The men’s 5000m race at the Paris Olympics 2024 almost resulted in a major collision as a viral video showed a cameraman getting in the way of the runners.
During the second heat, the runners were heading into the final four laps when the cameraman walked across the track to the edge.
The viral video showed that the cameraperson was seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, not knowing that he was interrupting the race.
Upon seeing a group of runners racing past him, the cameraman was visibly shocked and almost collided with the racers in the viral video.
Norway’s racer Jakob Ingebrigtsen was seen furious as he gestured towards the cameraman while running past him.
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“It’s amateurish. That should not happen in an Olympics,” Ingebrigtsen later said. “I was just far enough out in front to see that something or the other is happening. He has quite a large camera rig. He realised it quite quickly, but the damage is done. For some, their race is ruined.”
Reports said that the cameraman was capturing the women’s javelin qualifying at the Paris Olympics 2024, which was taking place at the same time.
The men’s 5000m race had already been hugely dramatic after four athletes tumbled on the final straight during heat one.
England’s George Mills was involved in an altercation with France’s Hugo Hay and fell over. He was later seen confronting Hay at the finish line after qualifying down in 18th.
Earlier, India’s Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s 50kg freestyle final for being overweight, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said.
Phogat had been set to lock horns with Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States for the gold medal.
“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the women’s wrestling 50kg class,” the IOA said in a statement.
