Olympic marathon runner who knocked over other athletes' water said the bottles were 'slippery' and that he didn't do it on purpose

• The runner who knocked over dozens of water bottles during a marathon claims it was not on purpose.
• Video showed Morhad Amdouni knocking over the bottles during the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics.
• France's Amdouni has blamed his actions during the race on "slippery bottles."

The marathon runner who knocked over an entire table's worth of water meant for his thirsty rivals has denied doing it on purpose and blamed the incident on the bottles being "slippery."

During Sunday's marathon, Morhad Amdouni went to grab a bottle but instead, knocked over dozens of bottles meaning his competitors behind him were unable to rehydrate.

Video of Amdouni's attempt to grab water was shared widely, with many saying he knocked over the other bottles on purpose to deprive his opponents of hydration. British pundit Piers Morgan even said he should win "gold medal for biggest d---head."

In response to waves of backlash,the Frenchman released a video on his Facebook page stating that he did not knock the bottles over on purpose. As of Tuesday morning, the video appears to have been made private.

Alongside the video, he wrote a short message explaining his actions, saying that the bottles were slippy and as such he struggled to grab one.

"To put an end to all the sterile polemics in the video, I put this video to actually understand what happened.

-Ben St Lawrence (@bennysaint) August 8, 2021

"To guarantee freshness to the bottles, they are soaked in water. Which makes them slippery.

"It is clear that I am trying to get one from the beginning of the row but these slide when we barely touch them," the 33-year-old said.

The runners were about two thirds into the race before the incident and Eurosport reports that conditions during the event were at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat and humidity caused serious problems during the Tokyo Olympics. Marathon runners were not spared sweltering temperatures despite the race being moved north to the cooler climate of Sapporo.

Amdouni would go on to finish six minutes behind winner Eliud Kipchoge, who crossed the line with a time of two hours, eight minutes and 38 seconds.