SEBASTIAN COE HAS said it was ‘poetic justice’ that the man who threw a bottle at the sprinters before the start of last night’s 100m final was sitting next to a Dutch judo star.
The man was arrested by police after the incident.
Edith Bosch, Holland’s world judo champion who won bronze in the -70kg judo, said she had ‘beaten’ the person who had thrown the bottle.
Coe said today: “I’m not suggesting vigilantism but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player.
“I think the expression is ippon.”
He added: “Throwing a bottle onto the field of play is unacceptable, it’s not just unacceptable at an Olympic Games but at any sporting event and anybody who does that will be removed.
“There is zero tolerance for anything like that.”
Bosch said on Twitter: “A drunken spectator threw a bottle onto the track! I HAVE BEATEN HIM …. unbelieveable.”
London 2012 organisers said that the person who threw the bottle had bought a ticket for the event.
A LOCOG spokesman said: “A man was arrested inside the Olympic Stadium last night after throwing a plastic bottle on to the track just before the men’s 100m final.
“The incident had no impact on the competitors or the event.
“LOCOG does not tolerate abusive or anti-social behaviour and will seek to remove people behaving in this way from its venues.”
LOCOG was unable to say which section of the stands the bottle was thrown from, but the man appeared to be sitting near members of the Dutch Olympic team behind the 100m start line.
Bosch said her reaction was an emotional one and she had acted out of disappointment and disbelief when the incident unfolded in the Olympic Stadium.
The 32-year-old was standing close by when a green plastic drink bottle was thrown from the stands behind the start line.
She later told Dutch television station NOS TV: “I had seen the man walking around earlier and said to people around me that he was a peculiar bloke.
“Then he threw that bottle and in my emotion I hit him on the back with the flat of my hand.
“Then he was scooped up by the security. However, he did make me miss the final, and I am very sad about that.
“I just cannot understand how someone can do something like that.”
A man remained in custody at an east London police station on Monday on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.
A police spokesman said a man had been heard shouting abuse and was then seen throwing the bottle immediately before the race, which was won by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
He said nobody was injured during the incident and the event was not disrupted.
