Kramer loses 10,000m gold after error

Top favourite Sven Kramer was disqualified from the 10,000m speed skating event at the Winter Olympics after making a wrong lane change.


The mistake which cost him the gold medal came half way through the race when Kramer moved to the inside lane too early after a signal from coach Gerard Kemkers.
‘I thought I was right but you have to take a decision within a few seconds so I moved to the inside lane,’ an emotional Kramer said after the event.
The move took Kramer into the same lane as the Russian Ivan Skobrev, and he quickly realised it had been a mistake. ‘I felt it in the stadium atmosphere,’ the Volkskrant quoted him as saying.
Blame
Coach Kemkers immediately took the blame. ‘When I realised I was wrong, my world collapsed,’ he was reported as saying.
Without the mistake, Kramer would have been the clear winner in the event – he was almost five seconds faster than the South Korean Sheung-Hoon Lee, who took gold.
Silver went to Skobrev and bronze to Dutchman and defending champion Bob de Jong.

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