Team GB won a historic two gold medals at the Winter Olympics on Sunday – but the latter of those was almost ruined for fans by a TV blunder.
After Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale triumphed in the snowboard cross mixed team earlier on Sunday, Tabby Stoecker and Matt Weston took gold in the mixed team skeleton.
It came following a stunning run from Weston, who won his second gold of the Games in the process, as he overturned a deficit of 0.30 seconds after he and Stoecker were languishing in fourth place.
His time of 58.59 seconds was also a track record and ensured the pair, ranked as top seeds for the event, won by 0.17 seconds.
At the start of Weston’s run, the camera was fixated on him as he waited for the red traffic lights to go out.
However, just as he was about to take off, the camera moved up to focus on his coach, who was standing behind him.
Tabby Stoecker and Matt Weston’s gold in the mixed team skeleton event was almost ruined for fans due to a TV blunder
As Weston started on his incredible run the camera focused on his coach behind him instead
This led to a furious response from BBC commentator John Hunt, who said: ‘Oh, what are they doing?
‘What are they playing at? That’s terrible.’
He then added: ‘That’s a great start. Sorry about the pictures but Matt is on his way.’
The gaffe meant that Weston was not even in the frame when he pushed off the start line, and his 0.12 second reaction time was instead shown by a graphic on the screen.
His coach was then seen roaring him on in the clip before it finally cut back to Weston.
It must be noted that the TV issue was not the responsibility of the BBC, rather it comes from a central Olympic broadcast, so the corporation were not at fault.
Nevertheless, a clip of the incident and Hunt’s criticism couldn’t be found afterwards, with his words also absent on the highlights of the event on BBC iPlayer.
Several fans similarly took to social media to express their frustration at what had gone on.
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His coach was then seen roaring him on at the start of the clip rather than it showing Weston
The pictures, operated by a world feed, eventually cut back to Weston as he got on his sled
One said: ‘Good to see a historic Team GB moment have a shadowed start due to focusing on the coach instead of Matt Weston when the lights went out.
‘It’s a bit like focusing on Toto Wolff at the start of a Grand Prix. Madness!’
They later posted: ‘The lights going out builds up the tension and adds to the entertainment factor as that is the best shot to show.
‘Hopefully they can find the wide shot of his start for replay packages!’
Another said: ‘So much happening, lest us not forget John Hunt ticking off the director. Marvellous stuff.’
Speaking after his incredible triumph, Weston said: ‘There’s some great names in the British Olympic history. I think to even consider putting my name next to those is a massive honour.
‘I don’t want to be the one to say what position I am, but to have my name next to those is absolutely amazing.’
He later added: ‘Obviously the individual one has a special place in my heart, it’s everything you dream about in the sport, but now we have had the introduction of the team race, this was another goal.
‘I treated it like a five-heat race. I had things I wanted to clean up from the individual, I wanted to tick those boxes and be boring, get it done. Hopefully that would be enough and now we are here with two golds.
‘The main thing for me is inspiration. Coming into this sport, I had no idea where it could take me. Now, nine years later, I’m double Olympic champion which is absolutely crazy. The main thing I want to get across is grab everything you can with two hands.
‘Every opportunity that you have, you have no idea where it is going to take you. There are two of us stood here with gold medals around our necks and hopefully inspiring the next generation of skeleton sliders.’
