By Andrew Warshaw at the Main Press Centre on the Olympic Park in London

Philip Hindes_03-08-12August 3 - Great Britain's cycling gold medal in the three-man team sprint will be allowed to stand despite an admission by Philip Hindes that he crashed on purpose to get a restart.

Hindes (pictured above), Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny beat France in a world record time of 42.6sec but Hindes, the junior member of the team at 19, said afterwards he deliberately fell in the heats so the race could be restarted.

Teams are allowed a second start and lead-off man Hindes appeared to suggest he acted intentionally to do just that.

"I just crashed, I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride," he was quoted as saying afterwards.

Hindes took a tumble at the beginning of the first bend as his teammates surged past him but International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams said whether or not it was a deliberate ploy, the tactic could not be compared to the badminton debacle earlier in the week when the players simply did not try, short-changing the public in order to manipulate the rules.

"People were not deprived of a competition, unlike in the badminton," said Adams.

"A race took place and best efforts were made by the British team.

"They see no reason to question the result and neither do we.

"This is a matter of degree and judgement.

"In the case of the badminton it clearly crossed the line."

Philip Hindes_of_Great_Britain_celebrates_with_members_of_the_coaching_team_after_setting_a_new_world_record_and_winning_gold_in_the_Mens_Team_Sprint_Track_CyclingPhilip Hindes celebrates with members of the coaching team after setting a new world record and winning gold in the men's team sprint track cycling final at London 2012

British Cycling officials, not altogether convincingly given the fluency with which he speaks English, suggested that Hindes – who has dual nationality – had been misunderstood since German was his first language.

Just like four years' ago in Beijing, France took the silver but coach Florian Rousseau called for a rule change in the future.

"There was no cheating," he said.

"The British team was much stronger than the French team and I congratulate them on their success.

"However, I do think the rules need to be more precise so we don't find ourselves in an identical situation at another Olympic Games."

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