Boxer Tommy Fury missed out on 30k of cycling because of problems with the road closures in France, but didn’t mention it in his social media posts, leading to claims he ‘cheated’
Tommy Fury has been blasted for claiming he’d “completed” his first triathlon – when in reality he didn’t finish the swim or biking sections of the race. The boxer, 26, posted pictures of himself crossing the finishing line of the gruelling 100k race, which took place in France last week. He was cheered on by girlfriend Molly Mae Hague and their daughter Bambi, two, who had travelled there to surprise him.
“I left it all out in the French Riviera. 100KM triathlon on 10 days training… completed,” he wrote on Instagram, posting a video of his final jelly-legged sprint over the line.
But sports experts have since pointed out on website tri247.com that his name has a DNF next to it on the Sportstats website, meaning he did not finish, The full race has three stages; a 2km swim, 80km bike ride and 18km run but Tommy was not logged beyond 48km on the bike, and also had his swim cut short.
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A statement from the Professional Triathletes Organisation confirmed that a total of 93 athletes were affected by problems with the roads, which needed to be reopened before they had finished their laps. “Due to our permit for the road closures in France, unfortunately Tommy and some other athletes in the 100km amateur race were unable to complete the bike course before the cut-off time,” they explained.
“However, given our philosophy to grow the sport and encourage new athletes, we wanted to give them as full an experience as possible. So they were all given the opportunity to do the 18km run and cross the finish line.”
Social media posts from Tommy, the younger brother of boxing champ Tyson, showed his fiancée, Molly Mae, cheering him on during the run along with his daughter, and also congratulating him with a long hug at the end. She posted “proud” next to his finish line video.
But while the posts about the race drew nearly 300k likes, some of his followers made their disappointment clear. One told him: “Come on lad, you missed the swim cut off and only did 50k of the bike.” Another agreed: “This is embarrassing. Officials have confirmed that you didn’t make the cut off times yet here is the frightening world of social media, people would have more respect for you if you were honest.”
And he came in for even harsher criticism from fellow athletes. Stuart Gregg wrote: “Makes me sick when people like you cheapen the hard work of others, didn’t do the full swim, nor the full bike – this should be deleted as you’ve cheated.”
And another agreed: “Allowing athletes to take credit for performances they didn’t earn damages the credibility of the sport.”
However, there were those who remained full of admiration for what he had achieved with only 10 days of training. Daniel Chambers declared: “Insane achievement. All the negative comments are a sign of people’s jealousy of what you are achieving as a human as they can’t do it!”
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