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Shane Perkins excludes himself from Team Sprint

Australian says two-fingered gesture "not right"...

Australian dominance continues in the track cycling at the Commonwealth Games with the latest count being 11 golds out of a possible 13, at least as we write.

There has only been the occasional blip for the green-and-gold bedecked riders in the velodrome but, gold-medal haul aside, one thing that always causes a ripple Down Under is the suggestion of “un-Australian” behaviour.

Keirin gold medal favourite Shane Perkins’ two fingered gesture to officials after his exclusion from the heats prompted accusations of precisely that and now the 27-year old Victorian has excluded himself from the team sprint competition.

"What I did was not the right thing to do," he told the Australian Associated Press today. "I'm pulling out of the team sprint because I think it's respectful to my team and I want to set an example for other people in the team."

Still, here at road.cc we thought it was nice of him to keep things within the spirit of the Commonwealth by using the old “reverse-Churchill” salute rather than its mono-digital American equivalent. Not that we condone either, of course, kids.

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skippy | 13 years ago
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Only just found this item and disgusted to see Perkins dishonour the Oz team with his childish/churlish behaviour!

Exclusion from the team for several years would be the minimum penalty from my point of view. There is sufficient talent available to the selectors w/out including "childish/unsportmanship behaviour touts"!

Would be interested in the follow up on what action was taken by Oz Cycling .

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