Japanese cyclist Shinji Nakano took to TikTok to publicly apologize to Malaysians following a crash with Malaysian Olympian Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom during the Men’s Keirin final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which led to Shah Firdaus being relegated.
The incident, which occurred during the final round at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome, also involved Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, who lost control and fell due to the collision between Nakano and Shah Firdaus.
Initially, Shah Firdaus was recorded as finishing 4th in the race, but the official Olympic Games website later updated his result to relegated, placing him 6th overall.
Flooded with negative comments
In the aftermath, Nakano’s social media accounts were inundated with negative comments from some Malaysian netizens, holding him responsible for the crash.
In response, Nakano posted a TikTok post featuring a photo of himself holding a Japanese flag. The post, which has been viewed over 816,600 times and garnered over 22,000 likes, with an apology in Japanese in the caption.
“I sincerely apologize to all Malaysians for my error. Please refrain from involving my family—they bear no responsibility; this was solely my fault.”