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Olympics drama as 110m hurdles stopped three times as pistol fails to fury of Paris crowd

A 110m hurdles race at the Paris Olympics took three false starts to finally get underway on Tuesday morning, with fans left angry at the chaotic scenes

[Rafael Pereira]

Brazil's Rafael Pereira had to wait for a photo finish to be declared the winner in his 110m hurdles heat(Image: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)

A 110m hurdles race at the Paris Olympics was hit by three false starts, including a starting gun gaffe, before finally getting underway leaving spectators in a state of confusion.

The second heat saw six sprinters take their marks, ready to compete for two semi-final places. However, settling the field took longer than expected, leading to Kazakhstan's David Yefremov jumping the gun and subsequently being disqualified.

With the line-up reduced to five runners, the athletes returned to their starting positions, but sporadic shouting from the crowd led stewards to call for a second restart. The chaos reached its peak when the hurdlers were made to wait yet again due to problems with the starting pistol.

Bizarrely, the delay was caused by the electronic starting pistol, which has replaced the traditional gun, running out of battery and needing a sideline recharge. The crowd quickly voiced their frustration, with boos and whistles echoing around the stadium. Yet, there was still more drama to unfold after the hurdlers eventually crossed the finish line.

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After a nail-biting photo finish, Brazil's Rafael Pereira was announced as the winner. The Parisian crowd erupted in cheers when it was revealed that France's Raphael Mohamed had secured the second place but the race was decided by the narrowest of margins.

Pereira and Mohamed clocked a nail-biting 13.54 seconds in the 110m hurdles, matched by Algeria's Amine Bouanani, leading to a photo finish decided by milliseconds. It meant Bouanani failed to qualify for the semi-finals in gut-wrenching fashion, while German athlete Manuel Mordi was also a whisker away from the top two, missing out by just one-hundredth of a second.

Discussing the first false start, former British hurdling star Colin Jackson pointed the blame at eventual winner Pereira, who was in the lane next to Yefremov, for struggling to settle in his blocks. "Yeah, I'd be really frustrated if I was [Yefremov] and I would have literally stood up and basically accused [Pereira] of that. The starters, the stewards there, have a chat with them and go and say, 'Get in those blocks and settle'," he said on the BBC.

[A photo finish in the 110m hurdles]

France's Raphael Mohamed (L) and Brazil's Rafael Pereira (R) were awarded the top places after a photo finish(Image: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images)

There were murmurs of discontent after the race was halted for the second time, caused by small sections of shouting from the crowd. However, it soon escalated into outright jeers at the officials following their starting pistol blunder.

Irked by the comical third false start, Jackson commented: "This is just getting so frustrating. You can hear by the response of the crowd, they're having enough. It was a technical thing again. Maybe [the starting gun] needs to be charged, Steve, I don't know."

BBC commentator Steve Cram chimed in with an unexpected analogy, saying: "That's like when you find an electric bike and you find the battery's gone.

"It's a disappointment and it's not fair on the athletes. The technical equipment failing is basic, isn't it? I know it's the morning but somebody should surely check it all. It's ran out of battery."

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