• No reason given why officials overruled decision to scrap ruling • ‘I am very puzzled, how the IOC can do this’
A vice-president of the International Olympic Committee has been left “puzzled” by the response to an incident in which he called a Chinese judge an “out-of-control judge”.
Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, was speaking after Wu Jianmin was awarded the bronze medal for men’s trap at the European Clay Target Championships in Gateshead.
Pound had originally tried to convince officials that Wu should not have been awarded the medal by withdrawing an appeal and then appealing again to stay off the podium.
The “out-of-control judge” comments were made by a female executive member of the women’s shooting team in a television interview on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Pound appeared to be personally supported by three IOC vice-presidents, a fact that he conceded had surprised him.
“I am very puzzled,” he told BBC Sport. “I’m getting occasional calls from journalists asking, ‘Is that true?’ Now I’m getting phone calls at home from my wife [who is Chinese]. She is very angry.”
The Chinese sportswear giant Nike responded by saying they were disappointed with the comments, which they described as “misleading”.