The French marathon runner who was blasted on social media after his controversial actions at the Tokyo Olympics has spoken out about the moment, defending himself from critics.
During the men's marathon at this year's Games, Morhad Amdouni was caught on camera at the 28km mark knocking over more than 20 bottles of water before grabbing the last one left at the end of the table.
Amdouni's antics have been widely condemned given the marathon, won by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, was run in temperatures close to 30 degrees with 80 per cent humidity.
British media personality Piers Morgan said on social media Amdouni hon the "gold medal for biggest dickhead of the Tokyo Olympics" with his "deliberate" antics.
Amdouni has denied the claim though, saying there was simple logic behind the situation.
"To put an end to all the controversy from the video, I show this video to actually understand what happened," Amdouni said.
"To guarantee freshness to the bottles, they are soaked in water, which makes them slippery. However, it is clear that I am trying to get one from the beginning of the row but they slip as soon as we touch them.
"With the fatigue, I started bit by bit to lose lucidity and energy in hanging on.
"So I really want to apologise to the athletes. But at one moment I tried to get hold of a water bottle, I made them fall."
Amdouni finished 17th in the race.
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