Ollie Wood said he felt like a ‘crash test dummy’ after being sent sprawling in a crash with Dutch rider Jan Willem van Schip during the Olympic madison final.
The Netherlands were disqualified after the Dutch rider appeared to headbutt Team GB star Wood during the grueling 200-lap race on Saturday.
With just 39 laps remaining, Wood was suddenly catapulted into a hard fall after his helmet was struck from behind by Willem van Schip.
It was inconclusive from television replays whether the contact was deliberate, though it looked ugly inside the velodrome, with the collision leaving Woods sprawled across the boards.
The Dutch team were disqualified with Willem van Schip fined 1,000CHF (£720) for’ improper conduct and behavior that endangers another rider (blow with the helmet)’, according to the commissaires’ decision.
There’s an incident in the cycling involving Great Britain 💥
Ollie Wood is down in the men’s madison final after a collision with a Dutch rider – thankfully he seems OK afterwards 😬#Olympics #Paris2024 #BBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/21hcJ3FxZn
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 10, 2024
After limping into the interview area with a heavily swollen knee, he said: ‘He hit me so hard. I felt like a crash test dummy.
‘I will survive. I didn’t see anything.’
Wood added: ‘It’s just a bit different when you get hit from behind – you don’t see it coming. There are a lot of people resting and riding at any one time. Instead of taking a high line around the track, I thought he’d cut it a bit fine and just ploughed into me.
‘I’ve not watched it back. I’m trying to catch my breath. I have no clue, absolutely no clue. All I know is I got hit really hard from behind by literally the biggest rider on the track.
‘Everyone’s cognitive functions started to decline rapidly at one given point – you could see there were people having laps of concentration. When there are people all over the track, it is inevitable that people are going to collide wheels or whatever.
‘I don’t know what I have done but my knee really hurts and my a*** really hurts.
‘I feel like I’ve been rear-ended by a lorry.’
The incident came 24 hours after Team GB’s Jack Carlin was accused by the Dutch of ‘rugby on wheels’ for a manoeuvre in which he veered up the track and into Dutchman Hoogland in the individual sprint. Fans from the Netherlands then booed Carlin when he later collected his bronze medal.
Naturally, the clash between Wood and Van Schip might be painted as retaliation, although the Brit admitted he had no idea how it occurred.
Woods later required a concussion assessment at trackside before continuing the 50km race and ultimately finished 10th alongside Mark Stewart – who only found out he would be making his Olympic debut in the morning after Ethan Hayter pulled out through injury.
Wood said he had not complained as there was simply no point given Team GB were way down in the standings, having been unable to keep up with attacks from Italy, Denmark and later Portugal – who won the nation’s first ever track cycling gold medal with Iuri Leitao and Rio Oliveira.
While the crash was dramatic, it had little apparent influence on the pair’s medal prospects as they were already a long way short of the podium in the 200-lap bedlam of this format. Portugal took the gold from Italy and Denmark.
Six-time Olympic champion Chris Hoy, commentating for the BBC, blamed the Dutch for the collision, which saw Wood taking the inside lane on his down-lap and Van Schip attempting to pass him on the outside. Van Schip initially received no warning and Team GB did not protest, before the Netherlands were kicked out hours later.
‘It was clearly Van Schip’s error there,’ Hoy said. ‘You are trying to skim past the rider and not go too far on the bend but he misjudged it.
‘He absolutely whacked him on the head. I would not be surprised if he is concussed from that. He would not be expecting it either. His body would be loose and completely relaxed and then out of nowhere getting a massive hit. I really felt for him there.
‘It is literally a millimetre of Lycra and you have a bit of polystyrene on your head and that’s it and you are travelling at 40mph plus. It is a tough sport.
‘We were just discussing how often an elite endurance rider crashes, it would be half a dozen times a year. Some of them are fine, you slide and you lose some skin but you could break a bone or get a concussion and disrupt your whole season. It is a tough sport.’
Laura Kenny added: ‘I was surprised like Chris said that he did not get a warning or even points taken off of him. The men’s madison is pretty much full gas. They would have been going full speed then.’
Fans on social media hit out at Van Schip, accusing the Dutch rider of attempting to headbutt Wood.
‘What on earth was the Dutch rider doing in the Madison? He literally swerved and took Ollie Wood out for no reason,’ one fan posted.
‘That Madison was carnage, too many crashes, the Dutch guy who went out of his way to headbutt the Brit needs a dressing down. It was ridiculous. Changed line so that he could headbutt Oli Wood,’ another added.
‘That looked deliberate- it’s a headbutt. That should be disqualification,’ a third posted.
A fourth posted. ‘It looked like a deliberately headbutt and shoulder barge to the Brit who wasn’t in the race at the time.’
Van Schip did not comment on the incident, with the Dutchman not appearing in the mixed zone following the race.
His team-mate Yoeri Havik, speaking to Dutch media, blamed fatigue for the incident.
‘I didn’t see it, but I think it was more fatigue,’ Havik said.
‘I think Jan-Willem was exhausted.’
