By There's no Olympic medal for the dumbest crime committed by an athlete. If there was, Australia could add one more gold to its haul.
Josh Booth, center (AP)
The simple fact is this: 21-year-old rower Josh Booth was arrested early Thursday morning for alleged criminal damage. But the story is SO MUCH BETTER than that.
Shortly before 2 a.m., Booth allegedly used a large planter box to break a window at B.W. Dartnell and Associates, an engineering firm in southwest London. Why did he do it? He thought he was back in Australia, of course!
"From what he had said to the policeman, he thought he was at home and was trying to get into his own home, just drunk and disoriented," according to a worker at B.W. Dartnell and Associates.
Booth and his rowing teammates were reportedly out getting sloshed after finishing sixth and last in the men's eight final on Wednesday, just .69 seconds outside of a medal.
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So it's understandable why Booth was drunk. And why he fainted and hit his head after being arrested, according to Australian Olympic boss Nick Green. And why Booth was still wearing his yellow tracksuit at the time. Hey, if you're going to get arrested, do it with a flair for style, right?
Of course, Green isn't laughing, and neither is the Australian Olympic Committee. While the AOC hasn't decided whether or not to discipline Booth, the damage he caused is estimated to be only $750, so the incident will likely be more costly in terms of perception rather than dollars.
"We would be reminding our athletes again, because we reminded them on their arrival, that we expect athletes when they have finished their competition, to consume alcohol in a correct manner and behave appropriately," said AOC media director Mike Tancred.
Look, everyone makes mistakes, especially in their late teens and early 20s. Unfortunately for Booth, he made his mistake for all the world to read about.
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