Rio Olympics 2016: Cycling star Callum Skinner in spat with Brexit group for using his gold medal-winning performance to promote anti-EU campaign

OLYMPIC cycling star Callum Skinner got into a Twitter spat with a pro-Brexit group after it used his gold medal-winning performance in their video.

The athlete told Leave.EU to leave him out of it when he was featured in a montage to promote their anti-EU campaign.

Skinner, who won the men’s team sprint and picked up another silver medal in the individual sprint as part of Team GB’s velodrome heroics, said he was grateful for support, “but I wish you wouldn’t use my image”.

His response has gone viral, and been retweeted thousands of times – meanwhile Leave.EU said they are being sued for the video.

The group posted on their blog that the British Olympic Association have started legal action against them, sending a letter alleging breach of intellectual property rights.

Leave.EU, who were the unofficial Brexit campaign during the referendum, and backed by Ukip donor Aaron Banks, said on their website it “reeks of desperation”.

They said: “Throughout the referendum campaign, remainiacs constantly talked Britain down, believing we were too small and too pathetic to succeed outside of the EU.

“We understand they’re still p***ed that the majority of people do believe in Britain and want us to succeed as an independent country outside of the crumbling EU, but to try and stop us promoting just how great we’re doing reeks of desperation.”

The video, which opens with quotes such as ‘We’re too small’ and ‘We need to be in the EU’, seemingly mocked the view of Remain supporters.

And alongside images of medallists such as Mo Farah and Sir Bradley Wiggins, the video then exclaims ‘We may be small, but we truly are Great Britain’.

But Skinner wasn’t happy to be involved, replying to them saying: “Thanks for the support… But I wish you wouldn’t use my image to promote your campaign.”