Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010: Gold taken away from Australia’s Sally Pearson
The competitions in every discipline are becoming intense with every passing day of the 19th Commonwealth Games. At the conclusion of the fourth day of competitions, the medal tally showed that Australia was so far dominating the Games, followed
by India and England in the second and third spots. It is the fifth day of competitions today, and the rush for gold medals is at its peak. Athletes and teams are giving brilliant performances and are trying their best to elevate the position of their country
in the medal tally.
When mega events like the Commonwealth Games happen, controversies come along as well. The recent one was the one involving the Australian hurdles specialist Sally Pearson. She was disqualified after she won the final canter at the women’s 100 metre sprint
race. She was accused of doing some sort of false drama at the beginning of the event. Team Australia’s officials have launched an appeal with the Indian Commonwealth Games Federation over the athlete’s disqualification and thus the result was due this morning.
Talking to the correspondents after her disqualification, Sally was said in tears that she was “numb” at the decision of her disqualification. Hours later, after she was announced as the winner of the medal, the medal was taken away from her after the series
of protests and other dramatic events against the Australian athlete. The complaint was lodged by the English team, which led to four hours of intense argument and confusion after the race. Soon after the athlete was preparing to go up to the podium to receive
the medal, draped in the country’s flag, she was told about the protest. While she was utterly disappointed and in tears, the head coach of Athletics Australia, Eric Hollingsworth said that he was still proud of Sally’s performance and is confident that she
will return to win the gold in the 100 metres hurdle event in a couple of days.
The gold medal was taken away from her, and as a result, Nigeria’s Osayemi Oludamola was announced as the winner of the gold medal. While Natasha Mayers will be given the silver medal on the medal ceremony that will take place this evening. Kathryn Endacott
was promoted third after Team England’s intense protest against Sally.
The electronic timing system showed that Sally Pearson had false started the sprint because it showed her reaction time of 0.071 seconds. The system also showed that the first athlete to have jumped the gun was Laura Turner of England. Team England protested
so that its athlete Endacott could be promoted to the third position, and succeeded to do so.
This was the medal that Sally really longed for. Winning this would have made her the first Australian Commonwealth Games 100 metres champion in 36 years.
In the post race interview she was reported as saying “I guess I’m just numb right now, I do not really know what I feel. I’m obviously devastated and disappointed.” She went on to say that
“It did not go my way and that is what I have to deal with. I am just going to use my emotions and my anger and disappointment into the hurdles and hope that I can come out on top.”
When the race started, the reaction time of England’s Laura Turner was quicker than that of Sally’s and thus only the former was given the red card. Laura refused to leave the track on the plea that the noise in the stadium was so loud that she could not
tell when exactly the gun was shot and then was allowed to race. Laura finished last in the race but Sally finished first. In one of her other post disqualification interviews, she also said that
“The most disappointing part is that I was told I was clear – I did my victory lap with the flag. I was walking out to the medal ceremony and then I was called back. That’s not right.”
Tags: