The British cycling team's opening-night Olympic gold medal is under the spotlight, after one of its riders admitted to deliberately crashing to force a restart.

Philip Hindes crashed early in the qualifying round of the men's team sprint against Germany, with competition rules allowing for a restart of the race.

German-born Hindes told reporters after the race he had crashed deliberately because Great Britain had got away to a poor start.

He said the strategy had been discussed prior to the race.

First man Hindes seemed to have trouble with his front wheel and crashed after a quarter of a lap in the race against Germany.

After Britain were allowed to restart, Hindes made a cannonball opening to perfectly launch his team.

Britain then went on to win the heat and retain the men's track cycling team sprint title, beating France in the final.

"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart," Hindes was quoted as saying by British newspapers on Thursday.

"I just crashed. I did it on purpose to get a restart ... it was all planned really."

However, speaking after the team went on to win the gold medal, Hindes seemed to correct himself, saying he merely lost control of his bike and crashed.

Hindes, 19, switched his allegiance from Germany to Britain two years ago.

British Cycling team officials blamed the controversy on his lack of fluency in English, saying it was "lost in translation".

The International Cycling Union confirmed the result was not in question, but the incident follows closely on the heels of the women's badminton doubles scandal that erupted earlier this week.

Eight players - four from South Korea and two from China and Indonesia - were expelled from the Olympics for throwing matches in a bid to secure more favourable draws in the knockout stages later in the tournament.

ABC/Reuters