Usain Bolt
| credits: File copy
The man who threw a bottle at Usain Bolt and the other competitors in the men’s 100m Olympic final was spared jail on Monday.
Ashley Gill-Webb, who blamed his actions on bipolar disorder, was sentenced to an eight-week community order at Thames Magistrates’ Court.
Last month he was found guilty of public disorder at Stratford Magistrates’ Court, near the Olympic Park where he disrupted the sprint final on August 5.
Gill-Webb, 34, from South Milford near Leeds, snuck in to the stadium using an old ticket.
He hurled abuse at athletes including Bolt, the eventual winner of the race, and threw a plastic beer bottle on to the track at the moment the highly anticipated event was beginning.
The bottle landed behind the lane markers as the world’s top sprinters exploded out of their blocks in the showpiece race.
Gill-Webb will be electronically monitored and be subject to a 7pm to 7am curfew. He was also ordered to pay a £1,500 contribution to costs.
District judge William Ashworth criticised the defendant for trying to ruin the experience for athletes and spectators, but added that his mental illness was partly to blame.
“Your intention was to target the highest-profile event at the London Olympic and put off Usain Bolt,” he said.