Swedish athlete in drunken rampage
A Swedish shot-putter was detained by police for drunkenness outside his hotel on the first day of the European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg on Monday.
Jimmy Nordin was released from police custody at 3am, but Svenska Dagbladet reports that he has been accused of assaulting a security guard.
Nordin had earlier in the day failed to qualify for the shot-putt competition. The captain of the Swedish athletics team, Thomas Engdahl, said they had been forced to call the police to protect Nordin from himself.
"I am very surprised, as we have clear rules about drinking in the team," Engdahl told SVT.
Nordin finished 27th in the qualification round for his event. He then went straight to the VIP tent, where he drank heavily and became rowdy.
"I tried to use alcohol to forget the qualification round," the athelete told Aftonbladet, claiming he downed two 60 millilitre shots of vodka.
"I started straight after the competition by going to a bar and drinking," he added, saying that the first thing he remembers after that was waking up in the police cell.
Engdahl and the team doctor were called, and they reportedly tried to calm him down. They put him in a car together, but were unable to restrain the 104-kilo giant.
"He didn't want to stay there - he wanted to go out on the town," Engdahl told a press conference late on Monday evening.
Nordin's father, Lars-Göran, said his son did not have an alcohol problem.
"He just gets drunk occasionally, just like everyone else."
As well as having been Swedish shot-putt champion several times, Nordin works as a web designer, and runs a website selling sex toys.
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Jimmy Nordin was released from police custody at 3am, but Svenska Dagbladet reports that he has been accused of assaulting a security guard.
Nordin had earlier in the day failed to qualify for the shot-putt competition. The captain of the Swedish athletics team, Thomas Engdahl, said they had been forced to call the police to protect Nordin from himself.
"I am very surprised, as we have clear rules about drinking in the team," Engdahl told SVT.
Nordin finished 27th in the qualification round for his event. He then went straight to the VIP tent, where he drank heavily and became rowdy.
"I tried to use alcohol to forget the qualification round," the athelete told Aftonbladet, claiming he downed two 60 millilitre shots of vodka.
"I started straight after the competition by going to a bar and drinking," he added, saying that the first thing he remembers after that was waking up in the police cell.
Engdahl and the team doctor were called, and they reportedly tried to calm him down. They put him in a car together, but were unable to restrain the 104-kilo giant.
"He didn't want to stay there - he wanted to go out on the town," Engdahl told a press conference late on Monday evening.
Nordin's father, Lars-Göran, said his son did not have an alcohol problem.
"He just gets drunk occasionally, just like everyone else."
As well as having been Swedish shot-putt champion several times, Nordin works as a web designer, and runs a website selling sex toys.
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