Story highlights Yuri van Gelder "gravely violated" Dutch Olympic team rulesGymnast also served suspension for cocaine use in 2009Dutch chef de mission: "athletes are role models"London (CNN) Yuri van Gelder lived up to his reputation as the bad boy of gymnastics after he was thrown out of the Rio Olympics by the Dutch team for an unauthorized night out drinking. Hendriks admitted the departure of the former world champion and triple European champion on the rings was "a bloodletting" for the Dutch team. The Dutch gymnastics association, KNGU, and the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC-NSF) said in a joint statement Van Gelder, 33, had "gravely violated" team rules and that they had "no other choice" but to put him on the first plane home. Having reached the men's rings finals on Saturday, the former world champion -- nicknamed the "Lord of the Rings" -- left the Athlete's Village a few hours later to celebrate. "Unacceptable behavior""It was a very difficult decision," chef de mission Maurits Hendriks said in a statement on the KNGU website.

Source: CNN August 09, 2016 13:07 UTC