byRBR AdminThe guy should have been drawn and quartered in front of the Tower of London. It would have made splendid television.
“Poetic justice” served to the London 2012 bottle thrower says Coe
by Andrew Warshaw at the Main Press Centre on the Olympic Park in London
Monday, 06 August 2012
Man removed for throwing bottle during London 2012 100 metres finalLondon 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe today lent his tacit support to the Dutch judo player, Edith Bosch, who struck the already infamous Olympic 100-metre bottle thrower.
Coe described the throwing incident that occurred in the final build-up to Usain Bolt’s spectacular victory as “unacceptable”, and said there would be zero tolerance from now on.
The bottle landed just behind the sprinters, coming to rest a few metres from silver medalist Yohan Blake.
“It’s not just unacceptable at the Olympic Games, it’s unacceptable at any sporting event,” said Coe.
“Any who does this in future will be removed.”
The man (pictured top), who had a legitimate ticket, was promptly arrested after hurling a green plastic bottle from the stands but not before he had been confronted by Dutch judoka Edith Bosch, who tweeted that she had hit him.
Edith Bosch_of_NetherlandsDutch judoka Edith Bosch, in white, claims she acted out of “emotion”
The man has been named Ashley Gill-Webb, known as Ashley Gill, a 32-year-old father-of-two and vending machine operative from South Milford, near Leeds.
Gill-Webb denied the charge of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress under Section 5 of the Public Order Act when he appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court in East London this afternoon.
Gill-Webb wore a white top to court with the phrase “Veni, Vidi, Vino” on it and was released on conditional bail.
The court heard his case is that he did not throw the bottle.
He will now stand trial at Thames Magistrates’ Court on September 3.
District Judge Angus Hamilton granted Gill-Webb bail on condition that he does not enter any Olympic venue, including the whole of the Olympic Park, and that he resides at his address in Cornmill Court, South Milford, with the exception of the evening before his trial.
In a briefing to reporters, Coe described Bosch’s actions as “poetic justice”.
“I am not suggesting vigilantism but it was poetic justice they were sitting next to a judo player,” said Coe.
“The expression is ippon I believe.”
Bosch, already a household name in the Netherlands, said she had acted out of disbelief.
She told Dutch television: “I had seen the man walking around earlier and said to people around me that he was a peculiar bloke.
“Then he threw that bottle and in my emotion I hit him on the back with the flat of my hand.”
Contact the writer of this story at andrew.warshaw@insidethegames.biz
