Distressed cyclists fined for keeping their very own medal ceremony at Commonwealth Games

BIRMINGHAM, England (VFAB) — An English para-cycling group that protested right after becoming barred from a medal ceremony at the Commonwealth Video games has been fined by cycling’s governing entire body.

Sophie Unwin and Georgia Holt appeared to have won bronze in the tandem B dash Friday, with the scoreboard declaring them medalists, but they have been denied access to the podium. Beneath levels of competition regulations, only gold and silver medals are awarded when there are less than five entrants.

Holding an English flag, they stood driving a fenced-off space when the medal ceremony began. Safety guards produced them go.

Later, Unwin and Holt stood by yourself on the podium with bronze medals borrowed from supportive English teammates. This action led the intercontinental governing board Union Cycliste Internationale on Saturday to great each cyclists as very well as England workforce manager Keith Reynolds 200 Swiss francs ($210), the BBC documented.

The UCI mentioned the fantastic was for “failure to regard the instructions” of the organizers.

Unwin, who is visually impaired, competes on a tandem bike with Holt as her pilot.

The Commonwealth Game titles Basis mentioned Saturday that the final decision not to award a bronze medal will stand in buy to “maintain the integrity of competition.”

The basis reported athletes ended up knowledgeable of the policy right before the race, but “the scoreboard and benefits sheet incorrectly indicated that it was a bronze medal race. We apologize to the athletes included for the inadvertent distress this has brought about.”