Australian bronze medallist Francois Etoundi has been charged by Scottish police for the assault of a fellow Commonwealth Games competitor at the athletes’ village.
A podium finisher in the 77kg weightlifting class, Etoundi was allegedly involved in an altercation with a Welsh athlete on Wednesday night and was later sent to the Glasgow Sherriffs Court.
“A 29 year-old man has been arrested and is presently detained in custody in connection with an alleged assault following an altercation within the athletes’ village in Glasgow on Wednesday the 30th of July,” police said Thursday.
Etoundi represented Cameroon at the 2006 Melbourne Games and remained in Australia with fellow athletes Simplice Ribouem and Daniel Koum before representing the green and gold at the past two Games.
Koum kicked off a pre-Olympic scandal when he allegedly refused to lift at a London qualifying event until being paid an on the spot sum of $5,000, almost jeopardising the team’s chances of making the 2012 Games. He is currently back representing Cameroon.
Another indiscretion involving the Australian team occurred Wednesday when the brother of boxer Jordan Samardali was detained for an alleged aggravated assault at a Games venue.
Perth man Laith Samardali, a once promising boxer himself until suffering an induced coma in a brawl, lost control after Jordan was knocked out 39 seconds into his opening bout against Kennedy St Pierre of Mauritius.
“I know he’s a bit of a wild sort of dude,” Australian welterweight Daniel Lewis told the ABC. “Jordan got TKO’d in round one and his family were a bit out of control.”
Photo: Alex Livsey/Getty Images
