Updated on
Summary An Australian man brought this year's Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge to a standstill.
He was Wednesday convicted of causing a public nuisance.Trenton Oldfield, 36, dived into Londons River Thames and swam between the boats in April in a stunt which the prosecution at Isleworth Crown Court in London claimed put his life at risk.It was the first time in the 158-year history of the race that it was interrupted by a swimmer.Judge Anne Molyneux said Oldfield could face jail when he is sentenced on October 19.Mr Oldfield has accepted that he disrupted the boat race, she said.Prosecutor Louis Mably on Monday accused Oldfield of ruining the race for hundreds of thousands of spectators watching from the banks of the river and on TV, and for the two teams.Oldfield swam into the paths of the two boats as they neared Chiswick Eyot in west London.Assistant umpire and four-time Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent told the court that he alerted officials who ordered the race to be halted, fearing for the swimmers safety.At around ten minutes in, I looked up the river and saw ahead what appeared to be a bit of debris, he said in a statement.A few moments later, I saw what I noticed to be an arm. I realised it was a swimmer.Due to this immediate race hazard, I began immediate discussions with the umpire... it was clear to me that the swimmer could have chosen another direction to swim but he was intent on stopping the race.Pinsent told the court that Oldfield could have been killed if struck by an oar, the rigging or by the boats themselves, which were travelling at 15-18 miles (24-29 kilometres) per hour.Mably said that after being rescued from the river, Oldfield was arrested by police who asked him why he had disrupted the race.He replied that he was protesting about elitism. Exactly what he meant by that -- who knows?The race was restarted after a half hour delay and was finally won by Cambridge.
