Aussie Olympian Matthew Glaetzer Cops Vile Online Abuse From Malaysian Cycling Fans

Matthew Glaetzer has found himself squarely in the firing line of Malaysian fans following the keirin final at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Aussie cyclist became the target of some awful online abuse in the wake of the race, with fans taking aim at him for a slight error which saw British rider Jason Kenny clinch gold in the dying embers of the event.

Kenny was leading the race with three laps to go as Glaetzer took up second position and looked destined to strike.

Glaetzer was keeping a close tabs on the cyclists behind him and took his eye off the track for a split second which saw his bike swerve off course.

This ultimately slowed down the chasing pack and allowed Kenny to launch a late surge to extend his gaping lead even further.

"We haven't seen this at an Olympic final before in a keirin," Channel 7 commentator Scott McGrory said.

"What an upset in terms of tactics. That was outrageous."

Australian cycling legend Anna Meares added: "That was just phenomenal... (Glaetzer) let the gap go too far.

"Jason Kenny capitalised on the opportunity. No-one could bring him back. I don't think even he can believe it."

Kenny crossed the line in first place, cementing himself as Great Britain's most decorated Olympian of all-time with seven gold medals to his name.

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Malaysia's Mohd Azizulhasni Awang took home silver while Holland's Harrie Lavreysen secured the final spot on the podium.

Unfortunately for Glaetzer, he fell down to fifth.

"If I go ahead early, it's a bit risky. Glaetzer, I don't know what he did, he gave too much lead (to Kenny), "Awang told Astro Arena.

"But this is a sport. Sometimes we want to win but it's out of our control.

"I want Malaysians to know that I have done the best I can."

But as if the hurt of missing out on an Olympic medal wasn't enough, the Aussie has now had to deal with a bunch of abuse hurled his way - mainly coming from Malaysian supporters.

When the Australian Olympic Team tweeted about the result, the comments section was immediately flooded with nasty remarks about Glaetzer's performance.

While most of the comments were light-hearted, some of them turned pretty disturbing and even targeted Glaetzer's own personal Instagram account.

One of the better pieces of banter came from Malaysian journalist Shannon Teoh who joked that Glaetzer was a "teammate" of Kenny after letting him get an unassailable lead.

It's understood Glaetzer was close to pulling out of the race due to sickness before eventually soldiering on to overcome it.

"Sometimes things need to fall your way and unfortunately for me, they haven't personally in terms of medals," Glaetzer said.

"I've got a bit of a larger perspective ... I'm privileged to ride my bike for Australia."

Topics: Social Media, Cycling, Australia

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry