British athlete George Mills found himself in a heated altercation with France’s Hugo Hay after the runner was involved in a collision in his 5000 metres heat.
Hay remained upright after multiple men, including Mills, tumbled down the home straight in the final lap and the Frenchmen was able to qualify for Saturday’s final.
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 (25) is the son of former Leeds and England full-back Danny.
Mills 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.”
When asked if he had spoken to officials, he said: “I haven’t seen anyone but I’m pretty sure BA (British Athletics) will be on it to put an appeal in, I hope.
“From my perspective 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, gonna kick off the home straight then bang, hit the deck. What can you do?”
Former Olympic silver medallist Steve Cram, commentating on the race for the BBC, said Mills had got himself into a “bad position”.
“George was in a bad position from a long way out, he should have checked out much earlier,” Cram said.
“George, from what I can see there, did do a big push there in the home straight and it will be really interesting to see what they [race officials] decide.
“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.”
