Watch: Mark Cavendish was involved in a controversial crash on the way to winning silver

Mark Cavendish has won silver in the men’s omnium at the Rio Olympics.

However, the British cyclist was involved in a controversial crash with a Korean cyclist that led to two other competitors being wiped-out in the final event of the multi-event contest.

Elia Viviani, an Italian track-cyclist, got back on his bike and went on to win the gold. But the collision caused an Australian track cyclist to also crash, and resulted in South Korean Sanghoon Park being taken to hospital.

Korean rider Sanghoon Park bound for hospital after velodrome crash pic.twitter.com/s96CtDSJs6

— Gerard Whateley (@GerardWhateley) August 15, 2016

Here’s the collision:

https://twitter.com/nabz103/status/765303891709886465

And from another angle:

Cavendish wasn’t disqualified for the collision and won his first Olympic medal.

Daily Telegraph journalist, ghost-writer of Alex Ferguson’s second autobiography and apparent mind-reader Paul Hayward said Cavendish didn’t intend to collide with his opponent.

After the omnium crash Sanghoon Park looked very scared in a neck brace. Unintentional by Cavendish, but Park a bigger issue than the medals

— Paul Hayward (@_PaulHayward) August 15, 2016

Many on Twitter called-out Cavendish, who has spent a significant amount of his life on a bike and avoiding crashing into opponents, for the collision:

Class act Mark Cavendish, intentionally ruining another guy's Olympics. Can add that claim to his list. #LiveStrong https://t.co/tf7LROKlfP

— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) August 15, 2016

He should be disqualified. Ridiculous https://t.co/9ZskPMj0i2

— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) August 15, 2016

How did Mark Cavendish get away with that crash in the #omnium ? Looked pretty intentional to me, or maybe it's allowed? #Rio2016

— Karen Connell (@kazconnell81) August 15, 2016

https://twitter.com/MarkdavidLawlor/status/765299062698569733

So Mark Cavendish can cause a mid-race crash, take out a couple of riders including the leader & get nothing? Right…#Rio2016 #CyclingTrack

— Matt Trodden (@trods2906) August 15, 2016

Can somebody that understands cycling tell me how Mark Cavendish hasn't been penalised for the crash he caused. I'm confused.

— Gareth Lancaster (@unicoderainbows) August 15, 2016

https://twitter.com/Digger_forum/status/765323062707359744

Well, almost everyone did…

Mark Cavendish has achieved his dream.

He's an Olympic medallist!https://t.co/OETZJj8MQK pic.twitter.com/yeYaYwOFDV

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 15, 2016

A Dutch journalist reportedly had the following exchange with Cavendish following the event.

First of all, the British press didn't pose Cavendish the question whether he should have been DQ'd for his move.

— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) August 15, 2016

So I did. I showed him the rerun on my laptop. Cavendish asked me: "The guy wasn't Dutch, was he?" Me: "What?"

— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) August 15, 2016

Me: "Would you care to comment on that move?"
Cav: "I could sue you for that, do you know that?"
Me: "What for? Asking a question?"

— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) August 15, 2016

And then he walked away, cursing.

— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) August 15, 2016