Candi Murray

 







Goodwill Games-Olympic sprint champion gets rough riding fine



By Greg Buckle





BRISBANE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - American Olympic sprint gold medallist Marty

Nothstein was fined $100 after a rival cyclist tumbled off the track during

an eventful men's scratch race final at the Goodwill Games on Saturday.



Nothstein and New Zealand's Hayden Godfrey tangled in a bumping duel before

Godfrey fell heavily to the inside of the track with 1-1/2 laps left in the

10-kilometre final.



Australians Mark Renshaw and Brett Aitken took gold and silver respectively

before their home crowd, while Nothstein collected the $1000 third prize.



"The American guy, he was pretty keen not to let me come anywhere near him,"

Godfrey told reporters.



"That's just one of those things, hey? It wasn't really anyone's fault, just

a bit of argy-bargy.



"It wasn't nice what he did to me. It probably wasn't that good a (piece of)

sportsmanship. But you get that. I'm not going to hold a grudge or anything.



"I don't really blame him, no. It had already happened twice and I sort of

backed off a bit but then he came back out at me (from the inside) and that's

why he sort of caught me unaware a bit."



DISAPPOINTED



The Olympic champion, who also lost a bronze medal race-off in the sprint

finals, went for a ride outside the outdoor velodrome to cool down at the end

of the day's racing.



But American coach Danny Van Haute admitted Nothstein was disappointed with

the day's events.



"The good news is we got third, we didn't get disqualified, the bad news is I

have a $100 fine," Van Haute told reporters.



"I'll always take a $100 fine for a $1000 prize or third place on the podium.



"The New Zealand guy hit Marty. You hit Marty and it's like hitting a wall."



Godfrey, a 22-year-old from Christchurch who had large gashes on his left

elbow and knee and was covered in bandages, said he would possibly ride on

Sunday depending on how he felt.



"I just lost bits of skin, that's about it, nothing else," he said.



Another American, 23-year-old Erin Mirabella, won the women's 15-km points

race gold medal after German Katrin Meinke was relegated to third place after

passing under the blue line on the track.



"The whole race was really exciting. There was a lot of aggressive riding. A

lot of bumping and grinding out there," said Mirabella.



Silver medallist Australian Katherine Bates said: "It was a little bit crazy.

I copped a few hits and ended up out of it."



Meinke said of her relegation: "I was unlucky, but I did the wrong thing."



05:34 09-01-01



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