Watch the moment the furious son of a former England footballer angrily confronts his French rival after he sparked mass collision in Olympics men’s 5,000m

The son of a former England footballer was furious after his 5,000m heat at the Paris Olympics, after he was involved in a mass collision on the final straight of the race.

George Mills, son of former Leeds defender Danny, was hoping to make it through in the 5,000m heat this morning and started the home straight alongside Frenchman Hugo Hay, behind the leading group.

However, Mills appeared to receive a push from Hay, after which the Englishman’s legs came into contact with the rider on the other side of him.

Both men fell to the ground, along with two unlucky runners who were riding close behind them and could not react in time to pass them.

Mills was furious after the race, in which he finished 18th and therefore failed to qualify, and immediately attacked Hay, who finished seventh and went through to the next round.

Mills confronted Hay and started pointing at him, while also giving the 27-year-old Frenchman some stern words.

The Frenchman appeared to want to defuse the situation, but Mills appeared unhappy with Hay’s response, brushing the Frenchman’s hand off his shoulder as he walked away.

When asked by the BBC what had happened, he said: ‘I think it’s pretty clear. I got run over as I was about to kick on the home straight and boom, the French lad took me down.’

When asked what he told Hay after the race, he replied: ‘I probably shouldn’t say that.’

The BBC then asked him if officials had been spoken to, to which he replied: ‘I haven’t seen any. But I’m pretty sure we’ll appeal, I hope.

“From my perspective, that was the perfect qualification for me. To get through the first 2,000 in six minutes. I thought, ‘OK – no one in this field can get past me at this pace.’

“So I was just waiting and biding my time, I was going to kick the home straight and hit the ground with a bang. What can you do?”

Mills had nearly crashed earlier in the race when he revealed he had overcome a crash with 800 metres to go.

He said: ‘When it happened I thought, ‘Thank God, I hope I don’t fall,’ but later I fell to the ground.’

Paula Radcliffe, who covered the race for the BBC, said after the race: ‘There’s a lot to look back on, I have to clean up and decide whose fault it was.

“If you decide to jog that little bit, it’s kind of your own fault. You end up with all those falls.”