This dude knocked over all the water bottles in the men’s marathon

He should have said "Pardon".

That's French for "sorry".

Im going with gross carelessness at minimum. Being the result was what it was, the distinction between carelessness and indeed malice is slim to none. And apparently no contrition for it.

Phil Ken Sebben wrote:

He should receive a lifetime ban.

You will take his sins until your last days, because what you judged is not obvious:

Source: NY Post (dot) com:

Below some comments from the New York post. As you can see only one of the comments suggested a lifetime ban. Most of the other comments reflected on the ridiculous nature of the situation and condemn the guy with some of the people suggesting a temporary ban of some kind. So it’s clear that those suggesting a lifetime ban are a very clear minority and that this suggestion is disproportionate to the act committed. I’m not condoning what Amdouni did by any means but merely suggesting that one should be reasonable. As I said before, his name has already been sullied and that will stay with him for a long time, if not forever.

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RI Fan

16 hours ago

That is deliberate. Poor sportsmanship at its best.

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ApplesAndOranges

15 hours ago

Should have been DQed and banned for 5 years effectively ending his career. And if he ever returned he should not be allowed to get water from any table.

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JK

joseph kalinich

17 hours ago

Guess he should have overturned the whole table and then made excuses.

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PeterBStrong

16 hours ago

Where are the SJW now? Totally deliberate d-bag move.

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James Tag

16 hours ago

Fr. accent: “it was inférieur water, not French water! It was not Perrier, BAAAH!”

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KG

Kenn Goodwin

17 hours ago

There is a question?

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NR Das

17 hours ago

Gee ya think it was accidental? LOL. It is what it is. Deliberate. A Frenchman at his finest. Thug life in the Olympics.

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JH

Jack Harper

13 hours ago

That was obviously deliberate. He should've been determined ineligible for that.

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KT

Kevin Tully

14 hours ago

Totally deliberate, should get a suspension or be water boarded how appropriate would that be.

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CliffR,RN

14 hours ago

This isolated incident in no way should reflect on his team. Save it for future reference on his next races though.

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This comment violated our policy.

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Nick Staresinic

12 hours ago

"What do [you] expect from a [F]renchman'?

Having lived there and known a fair number of men -- now all deceased -- who fought for the Free French and one woman in the Resistance, I respond to "punchline history" quips picked up on sitcoms and such.

Just one example (of many): The French 1re Armée under Molinié, surrounded and with no hope of reinforcements, fought seven -- count 'em -- *seven* German divisions that bought vital time for the evac at Dunkirk.

That action saved tens of thousands of Allied lives.

And look up Jean Moulin, les maquisards, les francs-tireurs, or the assault on the V2 facility at Peenemunde. (I had a friend who was a commando in an all-French unit that trained under Montgomery. He lost an eye in that battle.)...See more

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NavyCorpsman42

14 hours ago

Are you sure this guy is not a woke, US athlete in disguise?

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BennyFromBrooklyn

13 hours ago

I'm sure he was suffering at that point in race and couldn't grab the water. I've done a few marathons and things get pretty dicey at that stage. And that's in optimal conditions. I can only imagine what it's like in that heat and humidity.

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Wally World

10 hours ago

Replying to BennyFromBrooklyn

I've done more than a few marathons and it isn't that hard to grab a bottle or even a cup, even near the end of a hot race. The other runners in the video had no problem with it. This runner was steady and deliberate, not staggering or fumbling. There's no question that he deliberately knocked over the bottles.

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TCobb

13 hours ago

Replying to BennyFromBrooklyn

Go away with your fair, sensible, non-racial comment. We don't need your kind over here.

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Cheech Hachis

15 hours ago

Be ok with me if his fellow runners kicked the snot out of him at the finish line. Too bad the runner behind him didn't trip him.

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James Tag

16 hours ago

Fr. Accent: “it was inférieur water! Not Perrier!! BAAAH!!”

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TCobb

15 hours ago

This comment section is a cesspool.

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NavyCorpsman42

14 hours ago

Replying to TCobb

Yet, here you are.

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Robert Anderson

15 hours ago

Replying to TCobb

Water's water.

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TM

Thomas McCartney

4 hours ago

Well he’s French, at least he didn’t surrender

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noxomus undefined

3 hours ago

should be disqualified and banned.

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JS

Joe Della Selva

13 hours ago

Just pick the bottles up and continue.......cry babies.

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Cheech Hachis

9 hours ago

Replying to Joe Della Selva

Just because you let people kick sand on you at the beach doesn't mean others have to.

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bfef wrote:

He should have said "Pardon".

That's French for "sorry".

""C'est ma faute"

Shaming of french people nothing new for americans. They even claim freedom fries to be their invention. Before we ban him WE should ban all americans for being part of a warmongerin country that murders countless people with drones

I think some people are forgetting that he has done a great performance for France in the overall scheme of things. First off finishing 10th in the 10,000 m final in 27:53.58, just behind superstars like Kwemoi (27:50.06), Kejelcha (27:52.03), and Rhonex K. (27:52.78). He followed this up with his brave run in the marathon one week later finishing 17th overall (2:14:33), also beating champions like Ringer (2:16:08), Riley (2:16:26), Robertson (2:17:04), Moen (2:17:59), Abdirahman (2:18:27), Thompson (2:21:29), Nakamura (2:22:23), Levins (2:28:43), not to mention all the drop outs, around 30 incl.,Desisa, Tan Geay, Hawkins, etc....

So advocating a lifetime ban for this runner, Amdouni, who has served France very well would be way over the top and unjustified. Yep, he committed a malevolent act but this in no way takes away from an illustrious career that he has produced up till now and at age 33 he does not have much longer to go and I think Paris 2024 will be a swan song at age 36 if he lasts until then.

Do you people ever watch ATP tennis professionals.? There are professional tennis players (Kirgios, Paire, etc...) who do the same kind of thing over and over again and people just laugh and life goes on. It just seems that in track - athletes are held to a higher order which is disproportionate to what they do.

C’mon ghost, denying competitors water in those conditions is tantamount to assault. I think the iaaf should give his career a cig and blindfold and take him out back.

A little bit of background here.

Amdouni grew up on the projects in Porto Vechio, Corsica, an island belonging to France in the Mediterranean Sea. The projects are basically social housing for poor and disadvantaged people large majority of them immigrants from the Maghrib that is countries like Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. He had to fight for everything during his childhood as he was quite small. He loved soccer and on the soccer field he showed tremendous tenacious spirit but he would have to fight for every ball because he was knocked around by his peers who were often much bigger than him.

Most of his peers that he grew up with are now either unemployed and many of them are in prison, mostly for drug offenses because France takes a very hard line against drugs even “soft drugs” like marijuana and cannabis.

If you look at the background he came from it’s quite amazing that he has succeeded as much as he has. As far as we know he has no criminal record which is a badge of honor in France for people from that background. We call it « casier judiciaire vierge » which means a “white sheet of paper no criminal record” that is a feat in itself coming from the background where so many of his peers were involved in illegal acts from burglary to drug pushing.

Once again, I’m not condoning what he did, but if you were in his shoes you might also have things happened to you which are unfortunate.

Let’s give this guy a break and MoveOn please - thank you.

llort_vbo wrote:

C’mon ghost, denying competitors water in those conditions is tantamount to assault. I think the iaaf should give his career a cig and blindfold and take him out back.

You are absolutely right, but the reports show that there was another table and even on the same table there were identical small bottle so water was available. Had he done that with absolutely no water available - you’re absolutely right and I agree with you - but this was not the case.

He was simply applying Republican hydration suppression, thereby solving all the hydration fraud.

I agree with you on principle but I don’t agree that he should be banned for life. He should be called on what he did by the French athletic Federation who have done nothing so far because I saw images of him celebrating at the closing ceremony where everything looked normal. You know, in France we have to be very politically correct with people from the Maghrib - that is the situation here. Once again, I agree with you that what he did was absolutely not good but I think people are making a mountain out of it. I looked at the video and I noticed that next to the bottles knocked down there -were other bottles in the second row which were available.

Here is an article from the French newspaper yesterday:

Source: Le journal ‘Le Figaro’ du dimanche 8 août 2021 (Ghost1 edit -Fr/Eng)

A characterized unsportsmanlike gesture or a big clumsiness linked to a lack of lucidity? Only the person concerned (Amdouni) can know. Still, the attitude of the Frenchman, Morhad Amdouni, during a refueling for the Olympic marathon this Sunday in Tokyo remains questionable. While still part of the leading group after about thirty kilometers of racing, the marathoner distinguished himself on a refueling by dropping all the bottles lined up on a table except the last one, which he managed to grab.

On balance, in view of the images, it seems difficult to plead awkwardness as his act seems deliberate, especially when he catches the last bottle without problems.

Nevertheless, in his defense, it was not long before he faded to finish the race in 17th place at 5'55 '' from the Kenyan winner Eliud Kipchoge. Is it possible that the 33-year-old athlete could have lacked lucidity to the point of overturning everything involuntarily, before pulling himself together in extremis? To each his opinion, the main interested party (Amdouni himself) having posted a video on his Instagram account to comment on his race, without mentioning this incident for a second. Still, it was better not to go behind him if a competitor was thirsty in Sapporo, the scene of the Tokyo Games marathon.

zxczxczxcz wrote:

Soy What? wrote:

"I'm shocked...shocked!" to find out he is a North African immigrant, good honest muslim boy would NEVER cheat!

"I'm shocked...shocked!" to find this racist comment from Coevett, good honest white boy would NEVER be a racist!

Islam is NOT a race.

Ghost1, you always back up the same kind of people, so for most of us you are biased 100% to the point of seeming naive.

If you like the sport, you like all the outstanding athletes, not just the ones which are close to you in terms of ethnicity or country.

Bro, Kipchoge snipered that water bottle.

French dude is a jerk.

Rupp did the same thing, I thought it was weird when I saw it. I like Rupp, but he did do the same (similar) thing. Weird.

geoger. wrote:

He should of been disqualified and pulled out of the marathon.

Yes, should of

Please post a still frame of when he looks away from the table. I've watched the video more than a dozen times and he never does. And whether he medaled or not is immaterial. I find it sad that people are so willing to forgive obvious bad behavior. Or make excuses for it as Ghost1 does by talking about what a tough upbringing he had.

I am not one to blame or excuse this behaviour based on his North African immigrant background and tough upbringing, because a-holes come from all backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures.

The act clearly looks deliberate and intentional. It would take more effort to do what he did than to avoid hitting all the bottles. A DQ should be minimal punishment for unsportsmanlike conduct, ideally something more severe so people don’t try this kind of stuff again.