not the best of new york wrote:
This woman's friends are the worst. They are all posting on the blog, full of "outrage" and asking for the man's head:
Sue SteinbergSeptember 15, 2013 at 9:15 PM
I cannot believe that there are advocates of Mr. Cullen's behavior. I cannot believe that it matters whether the attack was a shove or a punch. I cannot believe that Mr. Cullen does not recognize that what he did was shameful, or at the least worthy of an apology. I cannot believe that Alison has not gone public with her story, with the footage or with the ridiculous words of Mr. Cullen's anonymous friends. In my opinion, she should have pressed charges and spoken to the press.
Antonia StoutSeptember 15, 2013 at 2:45 PM
After reading everyones posts, I decided to look up the rules and regulations on the Ironman site to be absolutely clear. Here is rule # 5:
5. Fraud, theft, abusive treatment of volunteers, staff or others and acts of poor sportsmanship are grounds for immediate disqualification and will result in the contestant being suspended from competing in any IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 event in the future.
It doesn't matter what Alison was doing or why, Cullen broke the rules, plain and simple. When you break the rules, you get disqualified.
Louise SkinnerSeptember 15, 2013 at 10:25 AM
I can't believe what I am reading! I was there as a spectator and supporter and saw the incident along with my two children, I mention that not for the apathy vote but to state that i wanted my girls to watch athletes compete in a good sportsmanlike manner and see what they could possibly achieve. That wasn't the case when they saw a man shove Alison with extreme force after she kissed her 3 children and high fived her friends after coming out of the transition area.
He defines what these races should NOT be about -- narcissistic elitism that makes the majority of people afraid of competing. He cares more about his personal record and his medal than he does about a humanity. For him to not realize that he was at fault, and there be no apology or remorse - he does not deserve the second place medal or to be called a tough man athlete!