DISGRACED rower Josh Booth has been sent home from the Olympics and admitted his deep "disgrace" at damaging shopfront windows in England.

Booth has apologised to shop owners and paid the $2100 repair bill for the windows he damaged on Thursday morning after his competition in the men's eight ended.



"I am deeply ashamed of my actions on Wednesday night," Booth said. "In no way do they reflect the type of person I am or the type of person I aspire to be.



"My behaviour was uncharacteristic, nonetheless I fully respect and accept the recommendations of the AOC and will regret my behaviour for many years to come.



"The damage I caused was not motivated by any malicious intent to destroy but was a rather emotional outburst and an inappropriate expression of my disappointment and frustration with our result in a hard fought final.



"As a young athlete I have made a very grave and public mistake. I hope this mistake serves as lesson to the Australian athletes still competing at the Games ... seek help and properly deal for the extreme emotions associated with competition as of course consume alcohol carefully."



"I am sorry for the disruption I have caused to Hugo's restaurant and Dartnell and Associates. I have tried to rectify the damage I have done to businesses."



Booth did not answer questions at the press conference which was also attended by Australia's chef de mission Nick Green.



The damage to the shops occurred after Booth and his teammates spent a day at the pub.



Booth allegedly used a large planter box to break a patterned glass window.



Two doors down, a window at Hugo's Restaurant was also smashed.



A sheepish Booth visited the two businesses he vandalised to apologise in person this afternoon.



Dressed in his Australian team uniform, Booth said sorry to the engineering office and Italian restaurant whose windows he smashed in a drunken rampage.



A spokeswoman for the engineer company said Booth told her he was very sorry.



"The issue has been resolved," the staff member said. "We don't hold a grudge against him."



Earlier in the day, Booth's parents also visited the businesses to apologise while Australia's chef de mission Nick Green also phoned to offer his regret.



AOC deputy chef de mission Chris Fydler said they had been working with police and shopowners to resolve the issue.



"We've been working with the local police in that area as well as the shop owners where the damage was done.



"We are working through a process at the moment of Josh formally apologising to the shop owners for the damage he caused.



"We've had assessment of that damage and Josh will be paying those shop owners to repair that damage.





media_camera Window repairers remove a broken window from a shop in the main street of Egham. Picture: Phil Hillyard

"The amount is approximately 1400 pounds in total to repair that damage.



"Later today - we expect it will be probably 5pm - Nick Green, down at Eton, will be making a press statement hopefully to resolve this matter completely for us.



"It's a process we're working through with police at the moment.



"We're looking for an effective resolution between ourselves, the police and the shop owners and we feel confident that we will have that resolution by this afternoon."



Fydler said Booth was inconsolable.



"Nick has spent some time with Josh when he was down at Eton yesterday," Fydler said.



"Josh is very apologetic and embarrassed about what's happened and certainly wants to make good for any damage that he caused.



"It's quite out of character for Josh and he really can't explain why he actually conducted himself in that particular way but accepts that is what happened and is prepared for any of the repercussions that result."



The men's eight crew member will also have to face the Australian Olympic Committee, whose officials had warned them to "behave appropriately".



Dressed in his gold Australian tracksuit, Booth had been out drinking with fellow rowers on Wednesday after his crew finished last in their final at nearby Eton Dorney.

media_camera Muhmet Gurpinar owner of a Kebab Shop who served Josh Booth just before 1am. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Green said he was told Booth had fainted and hit his head after being arrested and taken to Staines police station over the alleged criminal damage.



The athlete was taken to hospital as a precaution, but was later released.



"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," AOC media director Mike Tancred said.



Fydler said other sport section managers had been put on notice to remind athletes such behaviour will not be tolerated.



This has been an embarrassing situation, not just for rowing, but for us as well," he said.



"We expect a much higher standard of behaviour from all of our athletes and we'll certainly be reminding the section managers, as various sports start to complete that a level of behaviour is expected of their athletes."



Men's eight coxswain Toby Lister confirmed some members of the crew had been out for a "few beers" after their race.



"We'd all been disappointed. You don't want to go to the Olympics and finish sixth," he said.

Originally published as Aussie rower sent home