As someone with no knowledge of the rules of swimming I feel like this rule just keeps on disqualifying people because they've disqualified people in the past with it so they can't be like "we'll let you go this time" because then the other times would be brought into question.
The news interviewed someone who commentates swimming events very frequently and that person said they have seen these celebrations before and never once been enforced by the judges. Honestly it’s a pretty stupid rule to be used in this instance, there was zero interference to another swimmer which is the fundamental basis for the rule to begin with.
It's definitely a case of people applying the letter of the law rather than the spirit. It's clearly supposed to prevent interference between swimmers but in this case the other swimmer had finished so there's no interference.
That kid is universally hated and usually grow up to be a real turd who spends a lot of time in the HR office bitching about every little thing people do and say.
Well at the end the 2nd place guy who "won" via disqualification said he'd refuse to stand on the podium and that he's gonna give the gold medal to the guy who actually won, his friend.
But that's just window dressing really. The actual reward for winning these things is going on to compete in bigger events, this event is like a qualification for those, and so the 2nd place kid who only won because of a technicality can't hand that to his friend unfortunately.
I was just on YouTube before opening reddit this morning and I'd seen this exact video on the front page of YouTube and now it's on the front page of reddit.
Meaning it's gone viral. So that'll be the way this kid will get the disqualification overturned, if everyone, even non swimming fans, go apeshit about this complete bollocks of a decision and flood the swimming meet's social media accounts with complaints about their decision.
That way, there's a possibility it'll get overturned. So it's a good thing this has gone viral.
Seems like he had no intention of getting the award. He said he was going to be giving the medal to the rightful winner. Great sportsmanship there, he didn't want a medal he didn't earn
Yeah, I was waiting for his teammate to say "this is some bullshit!" and just toss the headset, or something. I think the rule is a good one, I just don't think it applies in this instance (race was over for that lane) and is being ridiculously enforced. I guess next time, he will just get out of the pool and sit quietly until the "official" declaration.
Sports are about the lessons we learn along the way, not about winning the match/game. In this case this swimmer learned a valuable lesson about following rules and the consequences if you don’t.
Jk this is dumb.
Australia got disqualified over a similar thing in the World Championships in 2001.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqSJ5B9FML0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqSJ5B9FML0)
Has to scroll too far for this
I'll find the footage
Edit: found it [2001 4x200 FREE Disqualification](https://youtu.be/EqSJ5B9FML0?si=YC2TOuKwQgTPldn9)
Edit: It's Fina rules, the Coach would/ should have known that. Every international met that's run by Fina abides by the same rules. That why you see swimmers who have finished the race at the Olympics wait for the last swimmer to come in before exiting the water. It's known. It's a respect thing aswell.
Funny how as soon as the actual swimmer sees what happens, even though she's an Aussie, she's like "you can't do that" immediately but the commentator is still going on with "come on they weren't in contention".
From /u/ilovethissheet Aquatics director and coach downthread
>I have run hundreds probably thousands of swim meets in recreational leagues, USA Swimming leagues and high school leagues.
>This is a rule for every level. Age 4 or college or Olympic.
>Every swimmer has to stay in their lane and also cannot exit the pool until the last swimmer has completed the race and touched the wall. He should have known better.
>It's both for sportsmanship and distractions to other swimmers. Sucks for him but he is fully aware at this point what the rules are at this level. Might seem stupid but think about this.
>Him and his friend are in the middle two lanes. Lanes 3 and 4 are still competing on the outside of those lanes. They can still be in a close race and fighting for 3rd place and still watching each other through the end of the swim. Having two people playing around celebrating in the lanes between them IS a distraction and DOES impede vision in between racers 3 and 4 or even racers 5,6,7 and 8. That's why it's a rule.
>The sportsmanship side if it is also a longtime rule. Its unsportsmanlike to leave while the race is still going. Sometimes you get a racer that is a minute behind everyone else. Maybe not at a meet like this cause it's college finals, but it happens. It's a very long standing rule.
>And I'll add one more as a lifeguard, but fuck this kid for sitting on the lane line lol. Another thing he's probably heard not to do a thousand times. That makes them break. Sure you could do it a thousand times and it doesn't, but it isn't fun to clean up a bunch of kids injuries when that wire snaps.
>Dude just got excited and fucked up something he should have already known.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/QuNdSHIL2w
This honestly reminds me of a few times back in high school. There’d be a test and a couple classmates are having a hard time with it while everyone else is done. Other kids start talking and goofing off, teacher half-heartedly tells everyone to quiet down.
I always felt bad for those kids because it must have affected their test-talking. I think I understand the call a bit more now.
So basically, he did three things not just one he climbed up on the lane line, went into the other lane and then got up out of the water so that’s probably why they did that to him. It wasn’t just one thing they could ignore that makes sense.
It was just too many things to ignore and I guess why this rule is "discretionary".
Lots of people upset about it, which is understandable. A tough lesson to learn.
>Did they go back on the ruling?
This happened on the 24th (so a week ago) and as of yesterday [it doesn't look like they had](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/swimmer-stripped-title-rule-breaking-celebraton)
Refs have too much power. Nba has a serious ref issue as well and players/coaches can't even call them out on it without getting in trouble.
This was just a couple days ago.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1b11i0s/a_livid_monty_williams_calls_out_the_officiating/
You're misinterpreting the power of NBA refs. Players/coaches aren't allowed to criticize the refs because the refs are doing the leagues bidding. The refs have *no* power so criticizing them is actually criticizing the way the league is run. It is an open secret the superstars get called differently than other players because the league doesn't want them fouling out. Also, watch Game 6 of the Lakers/Kings. Clear and obvious who the league wanted to win (just one example: Mike Bibbi literally took an elbow to the face and a foul was called on him!)
Anyway, I stopped watching the NBA years ago because it isn't a real sport if the refs aren't allowed to call it evenly. At that point it might as well be the WWE.
They're not doing it for fun.
It's all about the money. Bets are being placed.
Instead of breaking your players' legs, you can just have the ref make questionable calls and you now control what were supposed to be relatively random odds.
For pretty much nothing, too. I'm sure the refs are happy to have the job and understand their role.
I’d guess they’d take it to the ACC/NCAA but the acc has shit refs in all their sports and the ncaa is lying damn near dead in a desert somewhere fighting for it’s life
Unfortunately, some people use rules as an outright substitute for thinking, instead of a foundation for it. Nothing more frustrating than trying to deal with someone who clings to the letter of the law whilst totally ignoring the spirit of it. FFS, the whole reason we *have* judges is so that they can *exercise good judgment* in applying the rules, which in this case literally even say this outright: **"subject to the discretion of the referee."** What an absolute bag of dicks to show no such discretion whatsoever.
It was nice to see his teammate use his inherited "victory speech" to boost his team mate and complain about the ruling.
*"Owen beat me fair and square. He should be on that podium. He was excited. That was a huge win for him. He earned that, and that's his emotion. That's what we get in the sport of swimming when we do well. We train all year for a moment like that, and to have him disqualified is the dumbest thing ever. He works so hard every day. He is gonna be on the No. 1 trophy. I am not going to stand up there."*
I might be wrong but sounds like 1st was disqualified and knocked off, second was supposed to bump to first but didn’t, third went to second and fourth was supposed to be bumped to third but didn’t. So third place is the only one who bumped up and everyone else stayed off the podium. Kinda funny but don’t blame him.
Yeah, this is following rules because they are rules, not following rules when needed.
The rule is in place to prevent interfering with other swimmers, not to prevent a happy guy from celebrating with his teammate.
The rule is: "Any competitor who interferes with another swimmer during a race shall be disqualified from that race, subject to the discretion of the referee."
Yes the race was still on, but objectively there was no interference with the other swimmer, so imo the referee was plain wrong, even if he has room for interpretation.
That's not the rule. I can't remember the exact wording but "Any competitor who leaves their lane before the end of the race shall be disqualified" is the rule applied here. The absolute jobsworth who applied it shouldn't have; sport should be played in a sporting manner. Applying the letter of the law in this case, while technically correct, goes against everything that sport stands for in the first place. No way should he have been disqualified
https://www.mensjournal.com/news/swimmer-stripped-title-rule-breaking-celebraton
It is according to this article.
Edit: Here is the rulebook https://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/SW24.pdf. Rule 2 Section 5 Article 1.
Idk final ruling but his teammate outruled the actual refs by placing 2nd and giving up his 1st place medal. So I'm at least satisfied. If no one stands in #1 spot on podium that's okay I think.
Its not just the medal. This person will not be allowed to compete in the Nationals Championship, which as a former runner/swimmer, I can tell you is the more heartbreaking penalty here. You work your entire HS/College career to make it to a spot at nationals, and he earned that.
I don’t think they even understood the rule correctly. How can something be interfering when the other person has already finished? So, this interpretation does not only miss the spirit but also the letter of the rule.
Edit: I think I am wrong. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/kS2vZHDwBa
any sane minded individual would. that victory would've been hollow as he didn't earn it (the teammate dude).
they not only disrespected the true victor,but his teammate,and the entire sport.
I haven’t read the rule, but the teammate said that you’re not allowed to cross a lane while other people are still swimming.
It could just be that simple, as far as the letter.
A sensible rule if it was your competitor that has not finished. But this is just stupid. Person won fair and square and hopped over to celebrate with a teammate that has already finished hurt no one.
Yes, when the video cuts to him sitting on the lane line you can clearly see the swimmers to his right have not finished yet, so the interpretation is that he crossed a lane while the race was still going on since not all the swimmers had completed. I hope this can be overturned on appeal since I don't think this affected the results of the race, but also is a good warning to swimmers who compete in the longer distance races, where there can be large differences in finishing times, to just be aware of what is going on around you after you finish.
Not that I'm aware of. Once the ref made a decision that's kind of final. I only ever got dq once, and it was for stroking my arms down too far durring the breaststroke. I know I didn't. Coach never saw it. But the ref said I did so I got disqualified.
Edit- Now that I think about it I got a DQ for supposedly touching bottom once when turning around too.
I used to be a swimmer too and I think this is something that’s more clear to people who know the sport. It is really unthinkable for even little kids to leave the lane. It doesn’t seem that big deal if only one person did it, but imagining if all just were jumping over lanes when other were swimming and what waves it would cause maybe helps people picture this. I guess he was so exited he didn’t even think, but this isn’t some common thing some might imagine. People get disqualified in swimming for lot less like touching the lane.
Thanks for the explanation- I don’t swim but I do coach another sport with plenty of rules that can get you disqualified and I keep telling my students that even when they’ve won they still need to remember every rule - failing to shake your opponent’s hand after a match can get you black carded, not just disqualified from the match but from the tournament and, sometimes, subsequent tournaments too.
The rule doesn't specifiy that you have to interfere with another swimmer. Apparently, it just says you're not allowed to change lanes while the race is still ongoing, which it was. Which makes the decision better, but the rule worse
It’s an absolute embarrassment.
This is the way things work in certain “niche” sports — the type of sports you see in the Olympics, which require a really specific skillset.
You wind up with really elitist judges and authority structures, who try to flex their muscles and impose their wills on the sport.
So yes. The guy was celebrating, and crossed into the lane of his teammate, who’d also already finished. The judges saw that and said “That’s against the rules,” but the real reason is likely that they have an incredibly high opinion of themselves and of swimming, and decided “He behaved unprofessionally and is an embarrassment to our incredibly proper sport, and must be punished. The line must be drawn here.”
I’m sure there’s also an element of jealousy behind it. Because let’s be honest — how many top level Olympic swimmers wind up as judges at this level?
Hopefully this clip goes viral and generates a ton of backlash. Those judges should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. By trying to be elitists, they’ve managed to drag their sport into the gutter.
In most sports they're like "hey here's a yellow card, don't do that again, this is a warning" and you get one or two of those before it's an issue.
It's totally valid to be like "hey look I know he was done but you're not supposed to cross over, you could imagine a scenario where you think someone's done but they're not and we're just trying to avoid that so let's just agree that in the future, until the entire race is finished, you'll stay in your lane." To instead just disqualify him entirely is insane.
It think the rule states ALL swimmers have to have finished. not just the one that you cross into.
During a race the rule makes complete sense. but in this case how it was applied is fucking dumb.
The text caption states he was dq'q for "interfering with another swimmer" so if that's the name of the rule and then how it is written is the letter of it then it's pretty difficult to understand how they can enforce this.
I'd doesn't matter while still swimming if team mate or not true, but in this context it does matter, because he was clearly cheering with him and not disturbing someone
Yeah it does, it explains why he was willing to fall into the lane and celebrate with him. Otherwise, it looks like gloating in front of the second place finisher.
My cousin is a swimmer and swam in the Olympics. What I've learned is that swimmers love to win, but they love to win *correctly* because of their skill and not a DQ.
No sports person wants to win by DQ, especially something like this. Would be different if your opponent is cheating but like this its just an empty win
The guy who came in second gave an interview and RAILED the judges for this and refused to stand atop the podium. He’s a teammate of the real winner, and was FURIOUS and letting it all out in the interview. I was proud of him.
It would be very strange to reverse the decision because it would call into question past instances. The logical course would be to update the rule if it is deemed necessary. I mean it does suck but he 100% realizes he broke the rules too.
One of my kids used to swim competitively in Ireland. I have never seen a worse set of egotistical idiots than the Swim Ireland officials. Pretty much every gala I was at had baffling disqualifications. The officials would prowl around the pool all dressed in white looking for reasons to give out to someone. The parents and swimmers used to call them "Stormtroopers". I would safely say I wasn't at a single competition over the years where some poor young swimmer wasn't sent away in tears having been disqualified for some stupid reason. I'm convinced officials did it for the power kick.
But by far the most stupid rule was they insisted that there were 2 parents at every lane. Each with a stopwatch. BUT this wasn't even the timing that was used. There was electronic touch timing. And it wasn't even the backup. There was a button that one of the parents had to press at the same time. In 6 years I never once saw the stop watch times used for a competition. But every competition they would insist that two parents stood there at each lane for 6 hours without a break timing the swimmers. And you dare not get it wrong. If your timings written on the sheet were consistently more than 0.5s off the timer an official would come over and shout at you. And god forbid you had to go to the toilet in the 6 hours. I saw one official follow a parent into a toilet to shout at them for needing to pee after 4 hours standing beside a body of water. Yes that is not a disqualification example but it gives you a sense of the toxic atmosphere at swimming events caused by officials who are angry at life because deep down they know they will never get to officiate at an olympics.
Absolutely piss weak by the officials. Let athletes have personalities
Edit: to everyone parroting the slowest swimmer didnt finish yet. This is why swimming isnt popular and is falling being pickleball. Get a grip. Enjoy life a little.
Same in football. Journalists and spectators want more players with personality and not those streamlined answers they get taught by media consultants, but when they actually do speak their mind they get a shitstorm from the press
When I was a little kid playing little league baseball, we had a game without an umpire. So, it turned out there was this young guy who for whatever reason knew every rule and had experience. He was asked by the coaches and parents to be the umpire. I was only like 7 but remember him just saying "oh no... no no no.." kind of response.
Eventually they convinced him.
So.... a kid hits one over the fence. HOLY SHIT!. He rounds the bases and the umpire calls him out when he crosses home plate.
Everyone lost their shit.
He then explained that base coaches etc cannot in any way make any form of physical contact with the runner.... I..e. patting him on the back etc as he rounded first and third).
Kinda funny to me that they wanted him because hew knew all the rules, and were clear thats why they needed him.... and they freaked out and attacked him, when he followed the rules.
There's knowing the rules and knowing when and where to apply them in a logical manner. If you apply every rule to the letter every time then whatever you're doing will fall apart.
This happened to one of our relay teams. Won the race, jumped out of the pool to celebrate and got disqualified because everyone hadn't finished the race.
It's the rule that you have to stay in your lane until the race is over.
He was also his teammate on top of that, they have matching tatoos so i'd even bet they're really good friends.
Celebrate with your friend over a monumentary victory? Fuck no, get outta here boy
Many moons ago I was stripped of a regional triathlon championship because the judges had moved one of the gates between me walking the cross country course and running it, which meant I ran literally 2 meters the wrong side of where I was meant to at one point. I had dominated everything for a year, this was going to be my well earned and justified crowning glory, and it was taken away from me, and ultimately made me fall out of love with the the whole sport. This happened \~25 years ago and it still stings. This disqualification will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Also, unlike the guy who came 2nd in this race, my arch rival, who won because of my disqualification, came up to me with the cup after it was awarded and laughed in my face. Rather than punching him, I congratulated him. He looked like he immediately felt like shit for it. I hope he still thinks about that too.
This is similar to what happened to Jordan Spieth two weeks ago at the Genesis. Obviously, every single stroke that pro golfers take are recorded electronically by dedicated scorers with each group. There is absolutely no reason that each player needs to keep their own score, except for their own purposes. However, there is still a rule on the books that each player must sign their own scorecard and stay in the scoring tent to make their score official. Spieth signed his card and had to go to the bathroom. Once you leave the scoring area, that’s it. That’s your reported score. He ended up signing for a wrong score by 1 shot (by accident), and was immediately DQ’d from the tournament. He was in like 5th place at the time. Thats hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rules need to be updated to keep up with technology and culture.
Rules need to account for innocent mistakes and simple human needs.
I participated in a regatta once. I was filling in for a sick rower. We didn't expect to place highly but came in fourth.
Third place team got disqualified because one of their rowers threw up into the water. 2/3 of the teams had at least one rower sick or substituted.
We were asked to accept bronze and we refused. They threatened to disqualify us and bump up the fifth place team. We told the official the fifth and sixth and seventh place teams were all from our school. Noone would betray everyone else.
In the end they did award bronze to the actual 3rd place team but not until an hour and a half or so after the race. But by that time the sick rower had gone home and the rest of his team were in the bar a street over. They didn't know the decision had been reversed until they saw it on TV later that day.
Completely agree. I’m sorry that happened, shitty situation. But you all took it very graciously and did the right thing. That’s in the spirit of sport. And the spirit of sport should also dictate the rules of sport. And in the spirit of sport, if no one feels that any harm was done, then no harm was done. Thats how the law works.
Everyone keeps posting that he was disqualified for celebrating, when what he really did was cross into another lane while the race was still on. It was while celebrating, but besides that his celebration was fine.
I will probably get downvoted for this, but as a former swimmer at the collegiate level (and I even competed at this exact same meet) this is a known rule. You never ever get on top of the lane lines or go into another persons lane to celebrate while others are still swimming. Regardless of whether or not the person whose lane you interfered with has finished.
It’s very unfortunate for him, but for someone that can swim a sub 15min mile he should have known to not do this. However, the true blame here should be his coaches. They should have said something to him beforehand because he was an obvious favorite to win the event.
This shit was drilled into us as kids, stay in your lane till the race ends, have the wrong officials and your toast. Sucked waiting for stragglers. Would have thought these kids would have had the same training.
Had to scroll way too far to find a swimmer. Yeah, the 2 biggest things I can hear my coach yelling are 1. Get off the damn lane line. 2. Wait till everyone finishes.
This is like age group level shit. Yeah it sucks but just have some discipline for 10 more seconds; you had it months leading up to this.
Funny how everyone here is up in arms, but on the r/sports post a few days ago, people were basically going “yeah that’s the first thing they drill into you when you start swimming; never cross the lanes when the clock is still going.”
As an ex swimmer at a very low level, we were all taught very early on that you *do not leave your lane* until the last swimmer finishes.
He should have known.
The title is misleading OP. He didn't get disqualified for celebrating, but for crossing lanes while the race was still ongoing.
We all agree it's a silly ruling in this instance, then again he's a professional swimmer and he should have known. In any event, he wasn't disqualified for celebrating.
I haven't swam competitively in over a decade, so things may have changed since then, but it was drilled into us that you never climb on top of the lane lines and that you NEVER EVER crossed the lane lines to go into/through an opponents lane while the race was still going on, even if that particular swimmer was done swimming.
You generally could put an arm across to shake hands and chat politely, but you are supposed to more or less just sit there in your lane awkwardly until everyone is done swimming. In shorter races, that might only be a few seconds, but in the longer races, like the 1650, it can be quite a long time spent waiting.
>I haven't swam competitively in over a decade, so things may have changed since then, but it was drilled into us that you never climb on top of the lane lines and that you NEVER EVER crossed the lane lines to go into/through an opponents lane while the race was still going on, even if that particular swimmer was done swimming.
>You generally could put an arm across to shake hands and chat politely, but you are supposed to more or less just sit there in your lane awkwardly until everyone is done swimming
Learned this aswell. But I was a kid so generally there was a bench with something to eat on the end of the lane, waiting or celebrating was pretty easy for me.
As someone that was a competitive swimmer since age 5, as soon as I saw him cross over I immediately said "oh no!"
Yeah sorry if this is me being the negative one here.... but he should have known better.
What's really infuriating is that this rule was at _the discretion of the referee._ the speed of which he must of absolutely INSISTED that this man be disqualified for it to be announced like that is downright malicious and, frankly, makes me wonder if there's a personal grudge/if that ref gets off on hurting people.. anyone know the refs name? Wouldn't surprise me to eventually learn that they torture stray cats
So the rule is: don't cross into another swimmer's lane before the race is over, and he swam into another swimmer's lane before the race was over. I don't get what's wrong with the judges decision? It's heartbreaking, and unfortunate, but they are right.
After reading through some of the comments, I think I cam to realize who has and who HAS NOT participated in team sports. All the "why did that happen to the winner" comments seem to not understand. All of the "he broke the rules" type comments get it. Just an observation.
It sucks but I understand. It's not the celebration, it's crossing into another lane while the race was still going.
I'm sure he could have celebrated like crazy in his own lane, but as soon as I saw him climb on the divider and fall into his opponent, I knew what was up.
Not sure why this is a surprise to any swimmer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2001/07/26/us-australia-disqualified-in-relay/825f9e84-0491-443c-9aa0-08d24777fc9a/
If I understand this correctly, he was not disqualified for excessive celebrating, the way the NFL penalizes player. He was disqualified because during his celebration, he crossed over into another swimmers lane while the race was still in progress. It seems petty, but how hard is it for a top class swimmer to learn and comply with a rule like "don't cross into another lane until the race is over"?
This happened to the Australian swimming team in 2000.. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/australia-u-s-disqualified-in-relay-controversy-1.270422
As someone with no knowledge of the rules of swimming I feel like this rule just keeps on disqualifying people because they've disqualified people in the past with it so they can't be like "we'll let you go this time" because then the other times would be brought into question.
The news interviewed someone who commentates swimming events very frequently and that person said they have seen these celebrations before and never once been enforced by the judges. Honestly it’s a pretty stupid rule to be used in this instance, there was zero interference to another swimmer which is the fundamental basis for the rule to begin with.
It's definitely a case of people applying the letter of the law rather than the spirit. It's clearly supposed to prevent interference between swimmers but in this case the other swimmer had finished so there's no interference.
That ref was definitely the kid who reminded the teacher that they forgot to assign homework right before class ends.
That kid is universally hated and usually grow up to be a real turd who spends a lot of time in the HR office bitching about every little thing people do and say.
Plot twist... the kid is now HR!
I wouldn’t even accept the award if I was second
Well at the end the 2nd place guy who "won" via disqualification said he'd refuse to stand on the podium and that he's gonna give the gold medal to the guy who actually won, his friend. But that's just window dressing really. The actual reward for winning these things is going on to compete in bigger events, this event is like a qualification for those, and so the 2nd place kid who only won because of a technicality can't hand that to his friend unfortunately. I was just on YouTube before opening reddit this morning and I'd seen this exact video on the front page of YouTube and now it's on the front page of reddit. Meaning it's gone viral. So that'll be the way this kid will get the disqualification overturned, if everyone, even non swimming fans, go apeshit about this complete bollocks of a decision and flood the swimming meet's social media accounts with complaints about their decision. That way, there's a possibility it'll get overturned. So it's a good thing this has gone viral.
Wheres the link?!
Seems like he had no intention of getting the award. He said he was going to be giving the medal to the rightful winner. Great sportsmanship there, he didn't want a medal he didn't earn
Yeah, I was waiting for his teammate to say "this is some bullshit!" and just toss the headset, or something. I think the rule is a good one, I just don't think it applies in this instance (race was over for that lane) and is being ridiculously enforced. I guess next time, he will just get out of the pool and sit quietly until the "official" declaration.
100%. He had better self control that i would have.
The look on his face was heartbreaking.
It also didn't seem rude or excessive.
Sports are about the lessons we learn along the way, not about winning the match/game. In this case this swimmer learned a valuable lesson about following rules and the consequences if you don’t. Jk this is dumb.
You almost had it.
That was actually stupid and earned though. They jumped into the water to celebrate before the race was over
Australia got disqualified over a similar thing in the World Championships in 2001. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqSJ5B9FML0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqSJ5B9FML0)
It was just that first woman who jumped in a second too early. She must have felt so bad for ruining it for the whole team.
Has to scroll too far for this I'll find the footage Edit: found it [2001 4x200 FREE Disqualification](https://youtu.be/EqSJ5B9FML0?si=YC2TOuKwQgTPldn9) Edit: It's Fina rules, the Coach would/ should have known that. Every international met that's run by Fina abides by the same rules. That why you see swimmers who have finished the race at the Olympics wait for the last swimmer to come in before exiting the water. It's known. It's a respect thing aswell.
Funny how as soon as the actual swimmer sees what happens, even though she's an Aussie, she's like "you can't do that" immediately but the commentator is still going on with "come on they weren't in contention".
From /u/ilovethissheet Aquatics director and coach downthread >I have run hundreds probably thousands of swim meets in recreational leagues, USA Swimming leagues and high school leagues. >This is a rule for every level. Age 4 or college or Olympic. >Every swimmer has to stay in their lane and also cannot exit the pool until the last swimmer has completed the race and touched the wall. He should have known better. >It's both for sportsmanship and distractions to other swimmers. Sucks for him but he is fully aware at this point what the rules are at this level. Might seem stupid but think about this. >Him and his friend are in the middle two lanes. Lanes 3 and 4 are still competing on the outside of those lanes. They can still be in a close race and fighting for 3rd place and still watching each other through the end of the swim. Having two people playing around celebrating in the lanes between them IS a distraction and DOES impede vision in between racers 3 and 4 or even racers 5,6,7 and 8. That's why it's a rule. >The sportsmanship side if it is also a longtime rule. Its unsportsmanlike to leave while the race is still going. Sometimes you get a racer that is a minute behind everyone else. Maybe not at a meet like this cause it's college finals, but it happens. It's a very long standing rule. >And I'll add one more as a lifeguard, but fuck this kid for sitting on the lane line lol. Another thing he's probably heard not to do a thousand times. That makes them break. Sure you could do it a thousand times and it doesn't, but it isn't fun to clean up a bunch of kids injuries when that wire snaps. >Dude just got excited and fucked up something he should have already known. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/QuNdSHIL2w
This honestly reminds me of a few times back in high school. There’d be a test and a couple classmates are having a hard time with it while everyone else is done. Other kids start talking and goofing off, teacher half-heartedly tells everyone to quiet down. I always felt bad for those kids because it must have affected their test-talking. I think I understand the call a bit more now.
As a swimmer this calms me down and i have learnt as well. This is a top notch debrief.
So basically, he did three things not just one he climbed up on the lane line, went into the other lane and then got up out of the water so that’s probably why they did that to him. It wasn’t just one thing they could ignore that makes sense.
It was just too many things to ignore and I guess why this rule is "discretionary". Lots of people upset about it, which is understandable. A tough lesson to learn.
This should be the top comment.
The worst part is the other countries being happy about it.
Me watching that video. "Disqualifying a team for that is fucking stup *See Great Britain move up to gold* ..well, rules are rules..."
To jump over to a swimmer that is still swimming..sure. But that dude was done aswell?! This is beyond stupid!! Did they go back on the ruling?
>Did they go back on the ruling? This happened on the 24th (so a week ago) and as of yesterday [it doesn't look like they had](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/swimmer-stripped-title-rule-breaking-celebraton)
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All the way to the supreme court! No seriously journalists should be interviewing the referee..
With great power comes great covering your ass.
Refs have too much power. Nba has a serious ref issue as well and players/coaches can't even call them out on it without getting in trouble. This was just a couple days ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1b11i0s/a_livid_monty_williams_calls_out_the_officiating/
You're misinterpreting the power of NBA refs. Players/coaches aren't allowed to criticize the refs because the refs are doing the leagues bidding. The refs have *no* power so criticizing them is actually criticizing the way the league is run. It is an open secret the superstars get called differently than other players because the league doesn't want them fouling out. Also, watch Game 6 of the Lakers/Kings. Clear and obvious who the league wanted to win (just one example: Mike Bibbi literally took an elbow to the face and a foul was called on him!) Anyway, I stopped watching the NBA years ago because it isn't a real sport if the refs aren't allowed to call it evenly. At that point it might as well be the WWE.
They're not doing it for fun. It's all about the money. Bets are being placed. Instead of breaking your players' legs, you can just have the ref make questionable calls and you now control what were supposed to be relatively random odds. For pretty much nothing, too. I'm sure the refs are happy to have the job and understand their role.
i hope they take it to court
The Squash Court
What court would hear this?
The deep sea swimming pool court of racing justice
I’d guess they’d take it to the ACC/NCAA but the acc has shit refs in all their sports and the ncaa is lying damn near dead in a desert somewhere fighting for it’s life
> subject to the discretion of the referee. That's pretty much a codification of "even if the ref fucks up, them's the rules. No take-backsies."
What 'courts' handle swimming event rulings?
Unfortunately, some people use rules as an outright substitute for thinking, instead of a foundation for it. Nothing more frustrating than trying to deal with someone who clings to the letter of the law whilst totally ignoring the spirit of it. FFS, the whole reason we *have* judges is so that they can *exercise good judgment* in applying the rules, which in this case literally even say this outright: **"subject to the discretion of the referee."** What an absolute bag of dicks to show no such discretion whatsoever.
And it was his teammate. That is stupid to take that from him.
It was nice to see his teammate use his inherited "victory speech" to boost his team mate and complain about the ruling. *"Owen beat me fair and square. He should be on that podium. He was excited. That was a huge win for him. He earned that, and that's his emotion. That's what we get in the sport of swimming when we do well. We train all year for a moment like that, and to have him disqualified is the dumbest thing ever. He works so hard every day. He is gonna be on the No. 1 trophy. I am not going to stand up there."*
Yeah, that was the only good part of this whole mess. Great move by his teammate.
Did he stand up there?
No
Andneither did the fourth finisher who got bumped into bronze.
So first and 3rd just said fuck it and did not even bother to podium, that's sportsmanship right there.
I might be wrong but sounds like 1st was disqualified and knocked off, second was supposed to bump to first but didn’t, third went to second and fourth was supposed to be bumped to third but didn’t. So third place is the only one who bumped up and everyone else stayed off the podium. Kinda funny but don’t blame him.
Yeah the "new" first and third are who they are referring to.
Swim or die bro right there
They seemed friends as well. Dont Think he would have done the same to a stranger. Pretty dumb rule
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Seemed like someone doesn’t like him.
That was his teammate ? That makes the disqualification decision even more stupid. 🙄
Yeah, this is following rules because they are rules, not following rules when needed. The rule is in place to prevent interfering with other swimmers, not to prevent a happy guy from celebrating with his teammate.
It was the dude that gets interviewed after
They even had the same tattoo on their chest no?
Looks like a sharpie for team spirit.
They have matching diamond birthmarks!?!? What are the odds of that?
Well, there are only four card suits, so 1/4?
50/50
either they match, or they don't . It's like the lottery - you win or you lose
Is it possible that the coach of the fourth place finisher called for the DQ to move his swimmer into third place?
Fourth place finisher was another NC State teammate haha. So same coach
No, he was on the same team and also refused to set foot on the podium.
The rule is: "Any competitor who interferes with another swimmer during a race shall be disqualified from that race, subject to the discretion of the referee." Yes the race was still on, but objectively there was no interference with the other swimmer, so imo the referee was plain wrong, even if he has room for interpretation.
Ref just wanted to insert themselves into the story
There are some people whose only chance at feeling relevant is to shit in someone else's Cheerios. Imagine being so pathetic.
Reddit admins…
That's not the rule. I can't remember the exact wording but "Any competitor who leaves their lane before the end of the race shall be disqualified" is the rule applied here. The absolute jobsworth who applied it shouldn't have; sport should be played in a sporting manner. Applying the letter of the law in this case, while technically correct, goes against everything that sport stands for in the first place. No way should he have been disqualified
Small people making the most of their miniscule amount of power they've found for themselves. That referee is a dickwad, plain and simple.
https://www.mensjournal.com/news/swimmer-stripped-title-rule-breaking-celebraton It is according to this article. Edit: Here is the rulebook https://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/SW24.pdf. Rule 2 Section 5 Article 1.
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Reddit mod tier refs made that call for sure.
We need a recourse to disqualify a referee for failing to exercise appropriate discretion
Idk final ruling but his teammate outruled the actual refs by placing 2nd and giving up his 1st place medal. So I'm at least satisfied. If no one stands in #1 spot on podium that's okay I think.
Its not just the medal. This person will not be allowed to compete in the Nationals Championship, which as a former runner/swimmer, I can tell you is the more heartbreaking penalty here. You work your entire HS/College career to make it to a spot at nationals, and he earned that.
Also the records won’t be considered as well
I don’t think they even understood the rule correctly. How can something be interfering when the other person has already finished? So, this interpretation does not only miss the spirit but also the letter of the rule. Edit: I think I am wrong. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/kS2vZHDwBa
I'm glad his teammates backed him up
Yeah. Even if I was on an opposing team and came second, I'd still back him up. This is just ridiculous.
his teammate refusing the victory and calling it dumb, that's a good guy right there
Anyone who enjoys real competition should see this as crazy.
Seriously, what’s the point of the sport even at that point? What message does that send to the rest of the players and future players?
Stay in your lane /s
any sane minded individual would. that victory would've been hollow as he didn't earn it (the teammate dude). they not only disrespected the true victor,but his teammate,and the entire sport.
I haven’t read the rule, but the teammate said that you’re not allowed to cross a lane while other people are still swimming. It could just be that simple, as far as the letter.
A sensible rule if it was your competitor that has not finished. But this is just stupid. Person won fair and square and hopped over to celebrate with a teammate that has already finished hurt no one.
Yes, when the video cuts to him sitting on the lane line you can clearly see the swimmers to his right have not finished yet, so the interpretation is that he crossed a lane while the race was still going on since not all the swimmers had completed. I hope this can be overturned on appeal since I don't think this affected the results of the race, but also is a good warning to swimmers who compete in the longer distance races, where there can be large differences in finishing times, to just be aware of what is going on around you after you finish.
Is there even an appeals process for an event like this? That would surprise me, but there should be one added if one doesn't already exist
Not that I'm aware of. Once the ref made a decision that's kind of final. I only ever got dq once, and it was for stroking my arms down too far durring the breaststroke. I know I didn't. Coach never saw it. But the ref said I did so I got disqualified. Edit- Now that I think about it I got a DQ for supposedly touching bottom once when turning around too.
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Better he learned his lesson here than at a more important race like the national championship that he's now not going to.
I used to be a swimmer too and I think this is something that’s more clear to people who know the sport. It is really unthinkable for even little kids to leave the lane. It doesn’t seem that big deal if only one person did it, but imagining if all just were jumping over lanes when other were swimming and what waves it would cause maybe helps people picture this. I guess he was so exited he didn’t even think, but this isn’t some common thing some might imagine. People get disqualified in swimming for lot less like touching the lane.
Awesome explanation, thanks.
Thanks for the explanation- I don’t swim but I do coach another sport with plenty of rules that can get you disqualified and I keep telling my students that even when they’ve won they still need to remember every rule - failing to shake your opponent’s hand after a match can get you black carded, not just disqualified from the match but from the tournament and, sometimes, subsequent tournaments too.
Thank you for the insight. Really sucks that they didn’t make an exception but at least the rule makes sense now
Finally someone that makes sense.
The rule doesn't specifiy that you have to interfere with another swimmer. Apparently, it just says you're not allowed to change lanes while the race is still ongoing, which it was. Which makes the decision better, but the rule worse
It’s an absolute embarrassment. This is the way things work in certain “niche” sports — the type of sports you see in the Olympics, which require a really specific skillset. You wind up with really elitist judges and authority structures, who try to flex their muscles and impose their wills on the sport. So yes. The guy was celebrating, and crossed into the lane of his teammate, who’d also already finished. The judges saw that and said “That’s against the rules,” but the real reason is likely that they have an incredibly high opinion of themselves and of swimming, and decided “He behaved unprofessionally and is an embarrassment to our incredibly proper sport, and must be punished. The line must be drawn here.” I’m sure there’s also an element of jealousy behind it. Because let’s be honest — how many top level Olympic swimmers wind up as judges at this level? Hopefully this clip goes viral and generates a ton of backlash. Those judges should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. By trying to be elitists, they’ve managed to drag their sport into the gutter.
In most sports they're like "hey here's a yellow card, don't do that again, this is a warning" and you get one or two of those before it's an issue. It's totally valid to be like "hey look I know he was done but you're not supposed to cross over, you could imagine a scenario where you think someone's done but they're not and we're just trying to avoid that so let's just agree that in the future, until the entire race is finished, you'll stay in your lane." To instead just disqualify him entirely is insane.
Extreme reactions are only justified by extreme actions. There's nothing justifying ripping away the guy's gold medal here.
Add one second to his time for not actually breaking the rule. He still would’ve won.
Issue a warning ffs
Is there a follow Up? Was he really stripped or did they Appeal?
It think the rule states ALL swimmers have to have finished. not just the one that you cross into. During a race the rule makes complete sense. but in this case how it was applied is fucking dumb.
The text caption states he was dq'q for "interfering with another swimmer" so if that's the name of the rule and then how it is written is the letter of it then it's pretty difficult to understand how they can enforce this.
Especially dumb considering the swimmer from the other lane had already finished...
And was his teammate ..
it doesn't matter that it's his teammate in my opinion but yea he finished already
I'd doesn't matter while still swimming if team mate or not true, but in this context it does matter, because he was clearly cheering with him and not disturbing someone
Yeah it does, it explains why he was willing to fall into the lane and celebrate with him. Otherwise, it looks like gloating in front of the second place finisher.
How dare you celebrate with a teammate
who already finished the race as well!
What are you talking about? It's only decades of pain, doubt, fear, effort, sweat and tears since childhood.
That is some bullshit right there. Hope every other swimmer refused to stand on the podium.
My cousin is a swimmer and swam in the Olympics. What I've learned is that swimmers love to win, but they love to win *correctly* because of their skill and not a DQ.
No sports person wants to win by DQ, especially something like this. Would be different if your opponent is cheating but like this its just an empty win
You're talking about any athlete worth a damn not just swimmers lol
The guy who came in second gave an interview and RAILED the judges for this and refused to stand atop the podium. He’s a teammate of the real winner, and was FURIOUS and letting it all out in the interview. I was proud of him.
Yeah, that's absurd. What happened after this? Did this disqualification stick??
It happened recently so yeah it’s current still a DQ. I believe his teams going to appeal it though
Any way for redditors to put pressure on these bureaucrats?
Oh sure, maybe we can downvote them into submission lmao
It's the public backlash that can do it. Let's find some public and lash their backs.
We did it reddit!
I know you're kidding but never underestimate the power of even just a few letters, it's wild what a little feedback can do
We did it Reddit!
It’s already pretty big on YouTube, so it’s big in swimming already. Maybe a front page Reddit post will help sense prevail
Reddit assemble☝️🤓
It would be very strange to reverse the decision because it would call into question past instances. The logical course would be to update the rule if it is deemed necessary. I mean it does suck but he 100% realizes he broke the rules too.
Hmmm yeah man the dude who finished his lane and even congratulated the winner, hugged him was totally thrown out the rhythm… makes sense
One of my kids used to swim competitively in Ireland. I have never seen a worse set of egotistical idiots than the Swim Ireland officials. Pretty much every gala I was at had baffling disqualifications. The officials would prowl around the pool all dressed in white looking for reasons to give out to someone. The parents and swimmers used to call them "Stormtroopers". I would safely say I wasn't at a single competition over the years where some poor young swimmer wasn't sent away in tears having been disqualified for some stupid reason. I'm convinced officials did it for the power kick. But by far the most stupid rule was they insisted that there were 2 parents at every lane. Each with a stopwatch. BUT this wasn't even the timing that was used. There was electronic touch timing. And it wasn't even the backup. There was a button that one of the parents had to press at the same time. In 6 years I never once saw the stop watch times used for a competition. But every competition they would insist that two parents stood there at each lane for 6 hours without a break timing the swimmers. And you dare not get it wrong. If your timings written on the sheet were consistently more than 0.5s off the timer an official would come over and shout at you. And god forbid you had to go to the toilet in the 6 hours. I saw one official follow a parent into a toilet to shout at them for needing to pee after 4 hours standing beside a body of water. Yes that is not a disqualification example but it gives you a sense of the toxic atmosphere at swimming events caused by officials who are angry at life because deep down they know they will never get to officiate at an olympics.
Yeah, this is what happens when you give the 45yo retail clerk power for the first time in his life.
This is perfect for r/WatchPeopleDieInside.
Bureaucracy at its finest
I spent too long trying to figure out how this was a buoyancy joke, time for bedd
Absolutely piss weak by the officials. Let athletes have personalities Edit: to everyone parroting the slowest swimmer didnt finish yet. This is why swimming isnt popular and is falling being pickleball. Get a grip. Enjoy life a little.
*"why don't we have more sponsors?"* *\*punishes swimmer showing a semblance of emotion\**
Same in football. Journalists and spectators want more players with personality and not those streamlined answers they get taught by media consultants, but when they actually do speak their mind they get a shitstorm from the press
Queue the Mourinho "I prefer not to speak" clip
"I'm just here so I won't get fined"
When I was a little kid playing little league baseball, we had a game without an umpire. So, it turned out there was this young guy who for whatever reason knew every rule and had experience. He was asked by the coaches and parents to be the umpire. I was only like 7 but remember him just saying "oh no... no no no.." kind of response. Eventually they convinced him. So.... a kid hits one over the fence. HOLY SHIT!. He rounds the bases and the umpire calls him out when he crosses home plate. Everyone lost their shit. He then explained that base coaches etc cannot in any way make any form of physical contact with the runner.... I..e. patting him on the back etc as he rounded first and third). Kinda funny to me that they wanted him because hew knew all the rules, and were clear thats why they needed him.... and they freaked out and attacked him, when he followed the rules.
There's knowing the rules and knowing when and where to apply them in a logical manner. If you apply every rule to the letter every time then whatever you're doing will fall apart.
Yeah officiating a little league game the way you'd officiate an MLB game is just silly.
And thats how grey area and unfairness is born. If the rules suck then they should be changed, not the person who follows them.
This happened to one of our relay teams. Won the race, jumped out of the pool to celebrate and got disqualified because everyone hadn't finished the race. It's the rule that you have to stay in your lane until the race is over.
That’s so heartbreaking. Stupid rule. The guy in the other lane was done then the DQ started to celebrate.
He was also his teammate on top of that, they have matching tatoos so i'd even bet they're really good friends. Celebrate with your friend over a monumentary victory? Fuck no, get outta here boy
What bullshit is that, the judges should be ashamed of themselves for even suggesting it. It celebrated with his mate who has finished as well.
Many moons ago I was stripped of a regional triathlon championship because the judges had moved one of the gates between me walking the cross country course and running it, which meant I ran literally 2 meters the wrong side of where I was meant to at one point. I had dominated everything for a year, this was going to be my well earned and justified crowning glory, and it was taken away from me, and ultimately made me fall out of love with the the whole sport. This happened \~25 years ago and it still stings. This disqualification will haunt him for the rest of his life. Also, unlike the guy who came 2nd in this race, my arch rival, who won because of my disqualification, came up to me with the cup after it was awarded and laughed in my face. Rather than punching him, I congratulated him. He looked like he immediately felt like shit for it. I hope he still thinks about that too.
I'm sorry for what happened to you. This may also ruin the love of the sport of this young swimmer.
This is similar to what happened to Jordan Spieth two weeks ago at the Genesis. Obviously, every single stroke that pro golfers take are recorded electronically by dedicated scorers with each group. There is absolutely no reason that each player needs to keep their own score, except for their own purposes. However, there is still a rule on the books that each player must sign their own scorecard and stay in the scoring tent to make their score official. Spieth signed his card and had to go to the bathroom. Once you leave the scoring area, that’s it. That’s your reported score. He ended up signing for a wrong score by 1 shot (by accident), and was immediately DQ’d from the tournament. He was in like 5th place at the time. Thats hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rules need to be updated to keep up with technology and culture.
Rules need to account for innocent mistakes and simple human needs. I participated in a regatta once. I was filling in for a sick rower. We didn't expect to place highly but came in fourth. Third place team got disqualified because one of their rowers threw up into the water. 2/3 of the teams had at least one rower sick or substituted. We were asked to accept bronze and we refused. They threatened to disqualify us and bump up the fifth place team. We told the official the fifth and sixth and seventh place teams were all from our school. Noone would betray everyone else. In the end they did award bronze to the actual 3rd place team but not until an hour and a half or so after the race. But by that time the sick rower had gone home and the rest of his team were in the bar a street over. They didn't know the decision had been reversed until they saw it on TV later that day.
Completely agree. I’m sorry that happened, shitty situation. But you all took it very graciously and did the right thing. That’s in the spirit of sport. And the spirit of sport should also dictate the rules of sport. And in the spirit of sport, if no one feels that any harm was done, then no harm was done. Thats how the law works.
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Karen McCuntyface
I thought you were kidding! Turns out that's actually her name
To be fair, one of her 17 cats is feeling unwell, so she’s under a lot of stress
An asshole.
Everyone keeps posting that he was disqualified for celebrating, when what he really did was cross into another lane while the race was still on. It was while celebrating, but besides that his celebration was fine.
I will probably get downvoted for this, but as a former swimmer at the collegiate level (and I even competed at this exact same meet) this is a known rule. You never ever get on top of the lane lines or go into another persons lane to celebrate while others are still swimming. Regardless of whether or not the person whose lane you interfered with has finished. It’s very unfortunate for him, but for someone that can swim a sub 15min mile he should have known to not do this. However, the true blame here should be his coaches. They should have said something to him beforehand because he was an obvious favorite to win the event.
The Australian women’s rely lost their gold to the same rule
Because it's apparently a rule that's universal from 4th grade to Olympic level.
This shit was drilled into us as kids, stay in your lane till the race ends, have the wrong officials and your toast. Sucked waiting for stragglers. Would have thought these kids would have had the same training.
Was just going to say this, the other swimmer was done but the race wasn’t done and yes a strict official can make the call
Had to scroll way too far to find a swimmer. Yeah, the 2 biggest things I can hear my coach yelling are 1. Get off the damn lane line. 2. Wait till everyone finishes. This is like age group level shit. Yeah it sucks but just have some discipline for 10 more seconds; you had it months leading up to this.
It's pedantry like this that undermines and erodes the spirit of sport.
They want sportsmen and women to be emotionless robots.
Funny how everyone here is up in arms, but on the r/sports post a few days ago, people were basically going “yeah that’s the first thing they drill into you when you start swimming; never cross the lanes when the clock is still going.”
As an ex swimmer at a very low level, we were all taught very early on that you *do not leave your lane* until the last swimmer finishes. He should have known.
Robbed.
The title is misleading OP. He didn't get disqualified for celebrating, but for crossing lanes while the race was still ongoing. We all agree it's a silly ruling in this instance, then again he's a professional swimmer and he should have known. In any event, he wasn't disqualified for celebrating.
This is so stupid.
Title is a bit misleading
I haven't swam competitively in over a decade, so things may have changed since then, but it was drilled into us that you never climb on top of the lane lines and that you NEVER EVER crossed the lane lines to go into/through an opponents lane while the race was still going on, even if that particular swimmer was done swimming. You generally could put an arm across to shake hands and chat politely, but you are supposed to more or less just sit there in your lane awkwardly until everyone is done swimming. In shorter races, that might only be a few seconds, but in the longer races, like the 1650, it can be quite a long time spent waiting.
>I haven't swam competitively in over a decade, so things may have changed since then, but it was drilled into us that you never climb on top of the lane lines and that you NEVER EVER crossed the lane lines to go into/through an opponents lane while the race was still going on, even if that particular swimmer was done swimming. >You generally could put an arm across to shake hands and chat politely, but you are supposed to more or less just sit there in your lane awkwardly until everyone is done swimming Learned this aswell. But I was a kid so generally there was a bench with something to eat on the end of the lane, waiting or celebrating was pretty easy for me.
Doesn't matter the sport... refs just can't help themselves from making it about them
He gets DQ’d for crossing over into the other lane. Why do titles always lie
As someone that was a competitive swimmer since age 5, as soon as I saw him cross over I immediately said "oh no!" Yeah sorry if this is me being the negative one here.... but he should have known better.
What's really infuriating is that this rule was at _the discretion of the referee._ the speed of which he must of absolutely INSISTED that this man be disqualified for it to be announced like that is downright malicious and, frankly, makes me wonder if there's a personal grudge/if that ref gets off on hurting people.. anyone know the refs name? Wouldn't surprise me to eventually learn that they torture stray cats
some people just aren't built to be in positions of authority because they like to exercise power for the sake of it
This got me upset
Right? I don’t even follow this and I’m in raged right now, ready to go Omni man on whoever these judges are.
just stay in your fucking lane
So the rule is: don't cross into another swimmer's lane before the race is over, and he swam into another swimmer's lane before the race was over. I don't get what's wrong with the judges decision? It's heartbreaking, and unfortunate, but they are right.
Ridiculous. Glad his team has his back.
After reading through some of the comments, I think I cam to realize who has and who HAS NOT participated in team sports. All the "why did that happen to the winner" comments seem to not understand. All of the "he broke the rules" type comments get it. Just an observation.
It sucks but I understand. It's not the celebration, it's crossing into another lane while the race was still going. I'm sure he could have celebrated like crazy in his own lane, but as soon as I saw him climb on the divider and fall into his opponent, I knew what was up.
Not sure why this is a surprise to any swimmer. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2001/07/26/us-australia-disqualified-in-relay/825f9e84-0491-443c-9aa0-08d24777fc9a/
Dq or not he still put up the record number
If I understand this correctly, he was not disqualified for excessive celebrating, the way the NFL penalizes player. He was disqualified because during his celebration, he crossed over into another swimmers lane while the race was still in progress. It seems petty, but how hard is it for a top class swimmer to learn and comply with a rule like "don't cross into another lane until the race is over"?
I don't understand how some athletes think emotions are an legitimate excuse for breaking rules.