Home » Sport » Tour de Pologne 2020. Will Dylan Groenewegen be punished? | Cycling

Tour de Pologne 2020. Will Dylan Groenewegen be punished? | Cycling

It would be different if two people went for a bike ride and one wanted to show who was faster, would push the other off the road, injuring her. Then the question of criminal liability for bodily injury should arise. In the case of the Katowice event, we can assume that by contacting his rival, Groenewegen violated his bodily inviolability (Art. 217 of the Penal Code), and also led to bodily injury (Art. 156 and 157 of the Penal Code). It’s just that the criminal code will not apply here.

“Everyone knows that, in principle, any bodily injury to which the other person – aware of the consequences – may be a criminal law problem. Does this mean that in the event of an injury the opponent who contributes to the incident may incur criminal liability Since practicing some sports may result in bodily injury or even death, criminal law must be able to reasonably respond to such events. After all, the legislator’s goal should not be to prevent practicing sports just because it may result in undesirable consequences, “he writes in bezrawnik.pl portal, Paweł Mering.

Therefore, in order to avoid a situation in which practicing sports (with all its consequences) becomes impossible, the term “sports risk” has been developed. And that is why in the situation between Jakobsen and Groenewegen there should be an exclusion of the unlawfulness of the act, i.e. the impossibility of recognizing it as a crime. According to Professor Lech Gardocki, we can talk about the existence of “sports risk” when, firstly, practicing a given discipline is allowed (and cycling is), secondly, the action was taken for a sports purpose (and it was, because it was about fighting for victory at the stage) and thirdly, the rules of sports discipline were not violated.

This last issue seems to be the most complicated one, because Groenewegen violated the UCI regulations, which is proved by the fact that he was very quickly disqualified. It’s just that he actually did nothing that would go beyond the framework adopted in world cycling.

– Sprinter are missing something in their heads, some connection. They have to switch off fear, because there is no other way. They are all cut from a different clay. Groenewegen’s fault is undeniable. On the other hand, I saw worse things in the finish. There is no forgiveness, there is a fight on the elbows. But I really saw worse things, albeit with less consequences, and that’s probably why there was so little talk about it. It often happens that a sprinter locks up another one at the ranks. When you watch the reruns, you can see a certain awareness in it, he saw that someone was trying to overtake him and that this page was closed – explained Michał Gołaś, one of the most experienced Polish cyclists.

The concept of “sports risk” has not been included in any act. It can be stated that it was developed as a result of the science of law and the applied jurisprudence. Some lawyers, however, point out that the related problem has become the reason for the emergence of a concept such as “sports law” in Poland.

– Applying the above-mentioned principle (non-statutory sports risk) of excluding liability, the Supreme Court decided that on a special stage of a car rally, the competitor is not obliged to comply with road traffic regulations, including the safe speed principle, and violation of these principles will not lead to criminal liability provided that the athlete’s behavior follows the unspecified model of a “cautious athlete” assessed through the prism of “common sense” – emphasizes Pachnik.

So, using some analogy, we could assume that… for example, any foul in football that causes bodily injury for more than seven days would be criminalized for the foul. After all, more serious injuries after sharp tackles are not unusual in football. Let’s be honest – this would make it rather impossible to play football, at least as we know it today.

That’s not all, because there is also a concept called “consent of the victim”. It mainly applies to combat sports, but also – for example – ice hockey, where throwing a rival to the board is a constant element of the game. There, it is directly clear from the rules of these disciplines that bodily inviolability will be violated during sports competition. Of course, cycling – as we wrote – is not boxing, but in the words of Michał Gołaś, “sprinters know what they are signing up for”.

“The limits of the exclusion of liability in sport cannot be clearly defined and each case has to be assessed individually. This is due to the variety of disciplines, rules and regulations of competition, and the nature of a given sport. ” – notes Karol Pachnik, which, however, does not contradict the fact that the way of sports competition characteristic of cycling was not exceeded in Katowice.

It would be a completely different matter if one of the cyclists – dissatisfied with the loss, for example – after the race (or even during it) approached the other and pushed or hit the bike, thus injuring them. Then it would have nothing to do with competition in sport and the application of the law to it. And Groenewegen did nothing of the sort. Indeed, he will have moral responsibility for his colleague’s accident, which he is aware of and which – as his activity in social media shows – weighs heavily on him, but he will not hear any accusation under the articles of the Penal Code.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.