Cameron Van Der Burgh Admits Cheating for Olympic Swimming Gold Medal
The London Olympic Games have been marred by allegations of doping and cheating, with some Olympians being expelled from the games for their infractions. After winning an Olympic gold medal, South African swimmer Cameron van der Burgh admitted that he had cheated to win the race.
Van der Burgh explained that during his race, in which he set a new world record, he used a few extra kicks to help give him an advantage.
In breaststroke, competitors are allowed to take one dolphin kick at the start of the race and one after each turn before starting their breaststroke kick. There is no underwater judging, so there is no way to determine extra kicks during the race, but usually swimmers are able to sneak in an extra kick.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Based on above water video replays Van der Burgh appears to take three of them. If he had been spotted by Olympic officials, the extra kicks would have led to a disqualification.
"If you're not doing it, you're falling behind," van der Burgh said. "It's not obviously- shall we say- the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it," Van der Burgh told the Sydney Morning Herald during an interview.
The swimmer went on to add that he is not the only one to take a few extra kicks as it is usually done by all competitors during a race.
"I think it's pretty funny of the Australians to complain because in the underwater footage if you actually look at Brenton Rickard in the lane next to me, he's doing the exact same thing as me yet they're turning a blind eye."
"It's got to the sort of point where if you're not doing it you're falling behind or you're giving yourself a disadvantage so everyone's pushing the rules and pushing the boundaries, so if you're not doing it, you're not trying hard enough," he added.
