Rio 2016: Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder expelled from Olympics after drink-fuelled night out
Yuri van Gelder, dubbed 'Lord of the Rings', has seen his nickname change after being expelled from Rio following an alcohol-fuelled late-night out
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A gymnast from the Netherlands has been sent home from the Rio Olympic Games after he left the team camp to go on a night out drinking alcohol, a day before they were due to compete in the team gymnastics final.
Yrui van Gelder has been expelled from Rio and sent back home after he left the team village to embark on a night out on Saturday night, before returning in the early hours of Sunday morning. Having left without permission and violating rules concerning alcohol consumpton and breaking curfew, the 33-year-old has been removed from the Olympic team.
A statement issued by Dutch team chef de mission Maurits Hendriks read: "It was a very difficult decision. It's terrible for Yuri, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable.
"In sports terms this is a disaster, but we had no other choice given the violation of our values."
This isn’t the first time that Van Gelder has landed himself in hot water, In 2009, he was suspended after taking cocaine three days before he was due to compete in the national championships. Van Gelder missed out on selection for London 2012 as a result of his positive cocaince test, and was also kicked out of the Dutch army after being given a year suspension from gymnastics.
Having attended a rehab clinic in Edinburgh, Van Gelder was due to return to competition at the 2010 world championships, only to be withdrawn four days before the start of the event after “relapsing”.
After finding himself centre of attention for all the wrong reasons once again, Van Gelder – nicknamed Lord of the Rings for his specialty event – issued a short statement to say he would not be commenting at this time.
"Yuri can't and doesn't want to respond to the situation," said a statement on his website. "He wants to process the events in a closed environment and will make a statement after that. When he will do that, is not yet clear."
Some social media users have criticised the Dutch gymnastics association’s [KNGU] decision on Twitter, although others have appropriately change his nickname to “Lord of the Pints”.
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