Armitstead given back silver

Eurosport - Mon, 29 Jun 00:05:00 2009

Lizzie Armitstead was reinstated as the silver medal winner in the British women's road race after an emergency British Cycling board meeting overruled the chief commissioner's decision to remove her from the podium for being an U23 rider.

CYCLING Lizzie Armitstead - 0

Armitstead was controversially stripped of silver due to a rarely-enforced rule that states winners of junior titles cannot simultaneously hold senior medals.

BC President Brian Cooksen vetoed commissioner Colin Clews's decision and applied the ruling to the men's race when U23 rider Peter Kennaugh won bronze.

Kennaugh was originally told by Clews that he would not receive bronze, only for Cooksen to intervene.

The original decision to strip Armitstead of silver was highly unpopular with fans, who pointed out that race winner Nicole Cooke had doubled up on several occasions and that 2008 winner Joanna Roswell was also an U23 rider at the time.

It was, however, accepted by the committee that Clews was correct to enforce the rule that previous commissioners had overlooked.

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 5 of 5

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  1. The rules are stupid --- but the commissioners job is­ to follow the rules.

    Hopefully they will change this­ rule now------ It does make you wonder why it­ hasn't been change years ago.

    Anybody that can­ give us all information why this rule was every made I­ for one would appreciate knowing what the thinking was­ behind it.
    I mean I can understand maybe not allowing­ younger riders to compete with older riders (for health­ reasons) but if you let them race together then they­ have to have the winnings if they do well whatever­ their age.

    From pocket r, on Tue 30 Jun 12:46PM

  2. Lizzie won't be too long til she is kicking­ Nicole's butt and taking the 'real' jersey­ ...... unless they go up a hill for a change then it­ will be Emma Pooley dishing out the hurt ....

    From dunkr, on Tue 30 Jun 10:47AM

  3. Common sense prevails and the medal is rightfully­ returned but British Cycling must come out with a­ statement now declaring if the rule is to stand in­ future races or is to be removed. When Jan Ullrich won­ young rider and the Yellow jersey in 1997 he was not­ ordered to give back the yellow jersey so why is the­ rule still on the books over here.

    From KGL, on Tue 30 Jun 7:39AM

  4. Justice. What a shame that no one wins in this. Lizzie­ misses the glory of the podium, Clews is stuck by the­ rules, then overruled himself, the BC looks­ disorganised. How many more time will this have to take­ place before the rule is ammended?

    From keir_williams, on Mon 29 Jun 11:11AM

  5. If a junior is good enough to mix it with seniors and­ beat them, why shouldn't the result stand? This­ looks like an old rule that has long since passed its­ sell-by date, and needs to be removed. The commissaire­ however, did the right thing. It's his job to apply­ the rules. What's a U23 rider though? Are juniors­ under 23 years old? When I was cycling years ago,­ juniors were under 18.

    From alex, on Mon 29 Jun 9:52AM
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