Moh Ahmed's hopes of earning a second straight Olympic medal in the men's 5,000 metres were crushed after the Canadian suffered a disastrous fall in a heat where several runners went down on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old, who got tangled up with a group of runners before going down, finished 16th in his heat and 35th overall with a time of 14 minutes, 15.76 seconds. He fell just before the end of his second-last lap.
CBC Olympics reported Ahmed's subsequent appeal was denied.
Officials allowed four other runners to advance after they originally landed near the bottom of the field in a subsequent crash right before the finish line
"People were pushing quite a lot, but I thought I was holding my position," Ahmed told CBC Olympics before the decision on the appeal. "I just ate it hard. [France's] Hugo [Hay] clipped me from the back. I don't know what's going to happen, but [he is] going to try get in the final.
"...Nobody deserves anything, but that really truly sucks."
Ahmed clipped an ankle of an athlete in front of him, Athletics Canada said in a statement provided to CBC Olympics.
"We have watched the video several times with the WA Video Referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front," the statement said.
Great Britain's George Mills confronted Hay after the race for the subsequent collision that took out four runners, NBC reported. Mills and those three later got semifinal berths following appeal.
“I think it’s pretty clear. I got stepped out on as I was about to kick in the home straight and boom, the French lad took me down," Mills told the BBC.
When asked what he told Hay, Mills responded, "I probably wouldn't be allowed to say."
The second heat also featured controversy as a cameraman crossed the track right as the athletes were making a turn. Several appeared to bump into him.
"What a stupid thing to do. I cannot believe the cameraman and officials allowed that to happen. That could have been another casualty," CBC Olympics analyst David Moorcroft said on the live broadcast.
Ahmed, from St. Catharines, Ont., won silver in the event in Tokyo. This year marks the fourth Olympic appearance of his career (2012, 2016, 2020, 2024). Earlier in the meet, he finished fourth in the 10,000 metres.
Fellow Canadians Thomas Farfard and Ben Flanagan also competed in the 5,000-metre event. Farfard, 25, qualified for the final, while Flanagan, 29, did not.
