Dutch judo star 'hit bottle-thrower' in Olympic 100m final

A Dutch judo champion hit a man after she saw him throwing a plastic bottle on to the track seconds before the men's Olympics 100m final began.

Edith Bosch, 32, who won a Bronze medal in the 70kg category, said she reacted "in emotion" and hit him on the back with the flat of her hand.

Locog chairman Lord Coe said it was "poetic justice" that the man would be sitting next to a judo player.

A man was arrested on Sunday after a bottle landed behind the athletes.

The incident did not disrupt the event and most athletes seemed unaware of the incident, despite the bottle being captured on TV, landing on to the track just as the sprinters took off.

The judo champion, who tweeted about confronting the man, 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."

Lord Coe said: "I'm not suggesting vigilantism but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player.

"Throwing a bottle on to 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."

Following the incident US athlete Justin Gatlin, who won bronze in Sunday's race, said the bottle had been a "little distraction" and added: "I didn't know what it was, but when you're in those blocks, and the whole stadium's quiet, you can hear a pin drop."

A Locog spokesman confirmed a man was arrested inside the Olympic Stadium in Stratford and said: "The incident had no impact on the competitors or the event."

The man remains in police custody on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.