A distracted cameraman crossed the track at an incredibly inopportune time, forcing a pack of runners to maneuver around him during Wednesday's second heat of the men's 5000 meter qualifier at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
It happened nearly 10 minutes into the race as the full slate of 19 runners who started the race passed the 3400 meter mark with four laps remaining. A cameraman was standing in lane 3 as the racers approached running two wide in lane 1. Without warning, the cameraman decided to cross the inner two lanes with the runners quickly approaching less than 10 meters away. He got to the lane line between lanes 1 and 2 when the runners began to pass him, forcing him to stop. A couple of runners were forced wide as they had to suddenly shift to an outside lane to avoid a collision with the oblivious cameraman.
What is the cameraman thinking here 🤯 wandering across the track with a 5000m going on #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/fSTrz4Gb1U
— Finlay🏴 (@Finlay_Rufc5) August 7, 2024
Seriously, what was going on with this cameraman? This is inexcusable. We would not be surprised if they had their credentials revoked for the rest of the Olympics. It is amazing that a collision was avoided and no one was hurt.
In the end, the top eight runners qualified for the men's 5000 meter final on Saturday, with Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen recording the fastest time out of both heats at 13:51.59.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
