Trolls on social media have accused Shelley of poor sportsmanship during the race when he ran past Hawkins, who was more than two minutes ahead when he collapsed with a mile to go.

"I wish a few of those trolls would get off their trolling and get out and put themselves in that position," Moneghetti, a former Commonwealth Games marathon champion himself at Victoria 1994, told The Sunday Mail. 

"I just feel so sorry for Michael...I was there, I saw him just as he finished and he was distressed, he was having enough trouble just holding it together himself.

"The first thing you’ve got to do in a marathon is beat the event. 

"It’s got nothing to do with beating the competition or the opposition, you’ve just got to overcome the event because it is a traumatic event and at that stage in that heat you’re just focusing on yourself getting across."

A more unexpected supporter of Shelley's is Australian comedian Dave Hughes.

He has claimed the criticism of Shelley is "anti-Australian".

"Shelley is so shattered he regards his gold medal as being tarnished," Hughes said on his Hit Network show Hughesy & Kate

“He’s not the Red Cross, alright. 

"We’re not at Gallipoli."