Olympics Rio 2016: GB's Jack Burnell launches tirade on officials after 10km swim disqualification

Updated 16/08/2016 at 14:44 GMT

Great Britain’s Jack Burnell slammed the “joke” decision to disqualify him from the men’s open water 10km race.

Jack Burnell

Image credit: Reuters

The GB swimmer appeared to finish fifth in the race and just miss out on bronze, but it was then revealed that he had been disqualified.

"This is the pinnacle of our sport, the Olympic Games, and the one thing that ruins it is the referees," he told the BBC after the race.

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"There’s a ridiculous amount of boats out there, that are not needed, and every person on there has no idea what they’re doing."

"They’re giving left cards out left, right and centre for absolutely nothing, and then disqualify people two metres from the end when there’s people grabbing hold of legs.

"The whole thing was an absolute joke. They haven’t got a clue what they’re doing."

Dutchman Ferry Weertman was awarded gold after a photo finish, with Greece's Spiros Gianniotis in silver and Marc-Antoine Olivier claiming the bronze.

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