New Zealand has protested the 10-second penalty given to triathlete Hayden Wilde and want his silver medal upgraded and two gold medals issued for the race.

Any successful protest won’t alter Australia’s Matt Hauser’s bronze medal placing.

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Wilde was penalised 10 seconds for unclipping his helmet fractionally early at the end of the bike leg. He finished the race 13 seconds behind England’s Alex Yee, still leaving him three seconds adrift of the gold medalist anyway if the penalty was not imposed, but the Kiwis argue he would have raced differently in the final stages of the race had he not known he had been given the penalty.

Wilde backed off and congratulated Yee in the last stages of the race knowing he had to enter the penalty box for 10 seconds and would be unable to get ahead of Yee far enough to still win gold.

Wilde had been found to have unclipped his helmet before docking his bike, which is illegal. Riders have to dock their bike before unclipping the strap and removing the helmet. Wilde immediately realised his error and held one hand on the strap until he put the bike in the rack. The referees reviewed the film five times before concluding he had unclipped the strap.

“I don’t want to take away that medal - he absolutely deserves it,” Wilde said of his friend Yee’s gold.

He said he was protesting on the basis he did nothing wrong

“It’s happened before, that there’s been a double gold medal, so we’ll see what happens.

“If we both get a gold medal, that’s awesome. But if not, I won’t be disappointed with a silver medal.“
Yee who had been trailing after the ride caught Wilde in the run leg, knowing the Kiwi had the penalty time ahead of him.

“I said when I caught him ‘I’m sorry you got the penalty, it’s rubbish’,” Yee said.

“We want to race the hard way, the honest way - it’s a shame, but it’s still special to share that moment at the end.

“It’s a very special rivalry between me and Hayden.”

The protest was heard today but it could take up to 30 days to be decided.