Big boat ruins Olympic triathlon start

Yesterday’s start of the men’s triathlon at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games was forced to pull all competitors back to shore after an overeager media boat blocked a large part of the field from entering the water.

The triathlon was to start with the 56 competitors diving off a pontoon for a 1500-metre swim around Tokyo Bay.

However, the vision of the race start shows a large twin-engined RIB only metres away from where athletes were standing on the pontoon as the starting gun sounds, with only about half the athletes able to enter the water.

The media on the boat were filming the competitors lined up on the pontoon when the starting signal sounded. Video of the start shows the media boat attempting to reverse out of the way as those unable to enter the water look on bewildered.

Athletes behind the boat had entered the water, making the manoeuvre even more dangerous.

Support teams on jet skis then had to catch up with those competitors who’d started the race to stop them and take them back for a restart that finally kicked off the event without incident about 10 minutes later.

It’s possibly not the only time a media boat has ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. A similar-sized RIB, with all branding on the pontoons and even the outboard engines blacked out, was spotted blocking part of the finish line during the first race in yesterday’s men’s Laser sailing event.

Officials were clearly heard shouting at the skipper to get his boat out of the way as the first of the Lasers competing in the event crossed the line.