George Mills became involved in a heated altercation with France’s Hugo Hay after a collision in his 5,000m heat but the British athlete was reinstated with three other fallers.
Hay remained on his feet after multiple runners, including Mills, tumbled down the home straight on the final lap and the Frenchman was able to qualify for the final on Saturday. But after the men had crossed the finish line, Mills and Hay were seen arguing and making physical contact, Mills pointing furiously at Hay.
Mills claimed Hay was responsible for the incident and officials agreed the Briton had been disadvantaged, advancing him to the final following a review by the video referee.
Mills is the son of the former Leeds and England full-back Danny. The 25-year-old runner told the BBC: “I think it’s pretty clear. I got stepped out on as I was about to kick in the home straight and boom, the French lad took me down.” Asked what he said when he confronted Hay: “I’m probably not allowed to say.”
Mills added before learning of his reinstatement: “That was the perfect qualifier for me, going through first 2k in six minutes. I was like: ‘Nobody in this field can run away from me at this pace,’ so I was just sitting, waiting, biding my time, going to kick off the home straight then bang, hit the deck. What can you do?”
The former Olympic silver medallist Steve Cram, commentating on the race for the BBC, said: “George was in a bad position from a long way out, he should have checked out much earlier.
“George, from what I can see there, did do a big push there in the home straight. There’s lots of experienced men in there and yes, everyone thinks they can kick, but when you get to that situation [very slow pace] the chances of people going down are increased incredibly.”
Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (IOC Refugee Team), Mike Foppen (Netherlands) and Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) were the other fallers who will run again.
