Team England swimmer Ben Proud has said that he has been left 'heartbroken' by his disqualification on the first day of the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
The 23-year-old entered the Gold Coast as the defending champion in the men's 50m butterfly and began his attempt to defend his title this morning by competing in the heats.
Proud was initially thought to have finished first with a time of 22.84 seconds - a new Games record - but moments later he was disqualified after it was deemed that he moved before the start of the race.
A later appeal proved unsuccessful, leaving Proud's 17-year-old teammate Jacob Peters as England's sole representative in the semi-finals later today.
"Coming into the competition there is always apprehension ahead of the first race," Proud said afterwards. "With 10,000 fans in the crowd I wanted to give them something to cheer about by delivering a fast time.
"Unfortunately before the start signal I was judged to have moved my leg and the referee deemed this enough for a disqualification.
"I really wanted to come into the competition to retain both my titles and to have that opportunity taken away in the first heat is heart-breaking.
"This has been four years of dedicated training and consistency – I feel I am in the shape of my life and am gutted to miss out on the opportunity to show what I can do. But the motivation is already there to come back in four years' time and regain my title in the event I love.
"This is now in the past – all I can do now is support my teammate Jacob. My focus is now fully on the 50m free. I would like to thank the team who helped ease me through this difficult situation."
Proud begins his defence of his 50m freestyle title on Monday, while he is also expected to compete in two relay races.
Neil Wilkes
