Olympic Knickers And A Twist

Olympic officials have been branded "pedantic" after a hockey coach was banned from a game because his players were wearing the wrong colour underpants.

Kevin Marr had to watch from the grandstand after New Zealand's male hockey players sported black pants under white shorts during an earlier game against China.

Under the rules, shorts and pants must match, but New Zealand had played in their alternate white strip against the home side, and the team did not have white underwear.

The arrow in the photo above shows the offending colour clash during the 2-2 draw against China.

Such was the transgression that Olympic bosses initially threatened to suspend the players involved – until Marr took the flak and said he was responsible for what they wore.

He was suspended instead and was banned from the team dugout for their 3-1 defeat to Germany.

"They're pretty pedantic rulings," Marr said. "They are trying to ensure teams present themselves in the best possible light.

"I understand where the rule comes from but to suspend players is wrong. I wore it on the chin. I could have appealed but it just uses a lot of negative energy you don't need."

But it is not the end of the fiasco – and German coach Jochen Heimpel may now find himself in hot water.

With New Zealand in their usual black, the Germans switched from their usual black shorts to red for the crunch match.

But red underpants were hard to come by, so they wore black, and were reported for flouting the Olympic sartorial rules.

Heimpel contacted Marr to say the clanger had been reported, and his players had initially been threatened with suspension from their semi-final.

All the sides were warned after the Kiwis were caught, so Marr thinks Heimpel is likely to be banned for two matches instead of one.