Briton Philip Hindes savored his first Olympic gold medal in his new colors on Thursday then admitted to bending the rules to the extreme as Britain defended its team sprint title.

Hindes, who made the switch from Germany to Britain only a year ago, has made the demanding 'man one' starting position in the three-man event his own following a series of stunning performances over one lap of the track. But he came close to sending Britain crashing out of the competition when his front wheel skidded only seconds after he left the start gate with Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy on his wheel.

"So I crashed, I did it on purpose just to get the restart, just to have the fastest ride. It was all planned really," said Hindes.

British Cycling said his comments were "lost in translation", while the International Cycling Union confirmed the result was not in question. The incident follows closely on the heels of the women's badminton doubles scandal that erupted this week.

The 19-year-old said he had talked over such scenarios with the British team.

"When that happens you can lose so much time... my only chance was to crash and get the restart," said Hindes, who admitted that neither Hoy nor Kenny had been fazed by his actions. "I think they knew I'd done it on purpose. We were speaking yesterday, that if anything happens someone has to crash. So I did it."

Hindes brushed himself off, and in their second start of the first round, Hoy came over the line in a new world record time of 42.747secs. It put them into the final with France where Britain took the gold in an improved record time of 42.600.

France's national team chief for track, Isabelle Gautheron, said the team knew Hindes had crashed to obtain a restart. "There is nothing in the rules to sanction such an action. But now that he's come out and said it, I hope the authorities consider making a change to the rules," she said.

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