http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8LKEjIdrwo
As KK says the footage (if it is the same as this one) is inconclusive.
Running the 3rd leg, both the Japanese athlete and Matt Lynch take the baton simultaneously with Lynch on the line (dividing lanes 1 & 2) but not impeding the Japanese guy who is tight up against the rail.
The Japanese 3rd leg athlete runs a bit rough and actually clips the inside rail shortly after taking off and stumbles for a couple of strides.
Lynch appears to hold his line for the first 25m - on the line dividing lanes 1 & 2.
About 30m around the bend the Japanese guy appears to try for an inside run but Lynch closes it off by veering slightly to the middle of the lane which is fair enough given he was leading at that stage. Lynch remains in the middle of the lane while the Japanese athlete veers from the rail to the outside of Lynch in what appears to be a move to go around the outside. Hard to see what made Lynch fall as the film isn’t close enough to the action. But given his version that he felt some contact, it’s reasonable to assume the Japanese athlete may have accidentally clipped Lynch’s foot as he moved to towards the outside of him.
Certainly appears to be an accident and just bad luck.
Starting with Offereins and Milburn was sound logic (at the time) as based on PB’s they should have had the Aussies in front and Lynch should have had a reasonable buffer. But the first two Japanese runners ran very well and made it tough for the Aussies.
With the benefit of hindsight, given Offereins experience at running down athletes in relays as he did in Berlin, he probably should have swapped places with Lynch.
The fall obviously knocked Lynch around a bit and good on him for getting back in the race. Gurr ran well to get the Aussies back into 2nd spot.
As KK said this is something Brian Roe organises on behalf of the Japanese Athletic Association and has little to do with AA.
THANKS for posting the link Youngy. I cringe every time I see how damn hard Matt Lynch hits the deck. He’s using a walking stick to get around at the moment.