EMERY FURY OVER 'CHEATING' SLUR

Stephen Emery has expressed his "absolute horror" at being branded a cheat by some of his contemporaries. The £20m Coventry Godiva man was accused of "not behaving in the spirit of the occasion" at a water park visit during his warm weather training trip to Portugal this afternoon. A high-stakes race was organised on a five lane water slide with many of Emery's most bitter rivals taking part. The 3:48 (Stretford Timing) 1500m man was disqualified in his heat after false-starting but immediately appealed the decision on the grounds that "a whistle from the crowd" had distracted him. A small scuffle ensued resulting in both Emery and Altrincham's Andy Norman being dragged away by race officials. 

The upshot of the 90 minute steward's inquiry was Emery's reinstatement in a re-run of his heat, with the determined 23 year-old easing into the semi-finals. However, the Godiva star had to put up with boos from the 23,000 spectators and cries of "cheat" as he stretched between rounds. Visibly shaken by the atmosphere, Emery only scraped into the final where he was once again disqualified for what he called a "harsh" false-start. The race was eventually won by the largely unfancied Shane Kerr.

Speaking afterwards, Emery made no effort to hide his displeasure at the circumstances of his defeat. "You work your whole winter for an event like this" he blasted "and then an incident like that ruins the whole day.  I am not a cheat. I would never cheat. It is a personal insult to be called one". On his disqualification in the final, Emery harrumphed that the starter "didn't know what he was doing" and held competitors for far too long. "Total amateurs" thundered the BUCS Bronze medalist "I will never compete here again".