THE MAN WHO world 800 metre champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse says attacked him last month has himself filed a complaint that the athlete provoked him.
Bosse, who won his world title in London on 8 August in a time of 1.44.67, brought his season to an early end after claiming he was the victim of a late night attack in a casino car park in his one-time training base of Gujan-Mestras in southwestern France that left him with “multiple facial fractures”.
French police arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with the assault. The alleged aggressor, while not denying he punched Bosse in the 4am altercation, has now lodged a complaint through his lawyer Arnaud Dupin saying that the row started because the athlete threw a beer can at his head, which he managed to deflect with his arm.
“The trigger was the beer can being thrown,” says Dupin, contending the initial suggestion that the attack came unprovoked after Bosse had posed for photographs in the car park, adding he didn’t know why Bosse “had targeted my client”.
Subscribe to The42 podcasts here: