A blunder of quite Olympian magnitude left a nation wailing after a momentary lapse of concentration cost Holland's speed skating colossus Sven Kramer a gold medal in Vancouver. Worse still, it was not even his lapse of concentration.

Kramer, whose fame in Holland eclipses even that of football heroes like Robin van Persie as he had been on course for a golden hat-trick here, has been left blaming his coach for the elementary mistake which saw him blow victory in the 10,000 metres, an event in which he had not been beaten for three years.

The 5,000m champion was powering majestically towards victory with just five laps left in the Richmond Olympic Oval when a fateful call from his coach Gerard Kemkers caused his disqualification.Kemkers, who was momentarily distracted as he recorded split times, looked up and shouted incorrectly to Kramer that he should cross over into the inside lane. Instinctively, the skater took his cue – and headed for sporting calamity.

He continued the race and crossed the finish line four seconds faster than anyone else, only for Kemkers, head in hands, to break the worst, much to the despair of the vast oranje-clad army of fans."My world has collapsed," cried Kemkers."This is the worst moment of my career. It was my mistake." The blunder handed gold to Korea's utterly dumbfounded Seung-Hoon Lee.