What do you think about the disqualifications in the 200m sprint?

Question

I do feel really sorry for those who were wildly celebrating victory but another part of me found it hysterically funny to see the reaction after the news was broken.

It really was dreadful on behalf of the officials!

Answer 1

The rules are simple, you cross the lane line you get disqualified, as I said in another post these are world class athletes running in an Olympic final, it's not a school sports day. They knew the rules, if they haven't trained properly enough not to make this mistake then tough.

Answer 2

It was fair that he was disqualified but officials didnt think to inform him that he had been DSQ and allowed him to run his lap of embarrassment for probably ten minutes. Full knowing he had been DSQ mind you, they decided to not let him know and let him publicly celebrate a "victory" he never won. It was awful on the official's behalf; who responded in the worst fashion behind laughing at him (which im sure a few were doing anyway)

Answer 3

They invaded the other lane so they needed to be disqualified, crossing the other's lane may give u an unfair advantage so the rule should be respected

Answer 4

This was just asked about an hour ago. I refuse to answer again except to get the points. hahahaha.  

Answer 5

Guys, we have to be honest about this. We can discuss the rules of stepping on the line endlessly, but that is not the real problem here.

The problem is that the last few years the USA has lost it's edge in the 100m and 200m sprint, but is somehow not able to accept that.

Ask yourself this: Would we have reported Spearman stepping on the line if we knew he did? Answer: No, ofcourse not. And what did our track coach gain with this? An extra charity medal is all we got.

The Netherllands Antilles runner was simply faster, but got stripped of his medal out of envy. How fair is that? NOT

Ever wondered why the USA only heads the medal charts when published by a US organization? All over the world China heads the charts because of their multitude of gold medals.

Answer 6

It's really a no win situation.  The ones who were wildly celebrating are devastated and humiliated, and the ones who were bumped up are ambiguous - they should be celebrating but they feel like losers who won!

Since the process already takes a few minutes before scores are placed on the board, I think they should make it part of the process to look at the videos for lane violations BEFORE they put up the scores.  The athletes should also learn from this to wait until they see their names before they run around wrapped in their flag!  

Answer 7

I think this was utterly tragic.

On the one hand, Speorman gained nothing by this obvious accident (and nor did the Netherlands Antilles runner Martina).

On the other hand, where do you draw the line? If it is OK to put a toe out why can't you put a heel out, or your whole leg.

Sometimes the rules are cruel but the rules are there to give EVERYONE an even playing field.

For what it is worth, I thought the sportsmanship shown by Speorman at what must have been a devestating shock was fantastic! Win or Lose, that man is a champion in my book!

Likewise, I think Crawford has been very sporting in his comments after the event.

You can be proud of these athletes America!

Lastly, what utter heartbreak for Martina and the Netherlands Antilles. To finally win a medal at the Olympics and lose it like this is just horrific!

Answer 8

I do feel bad for those two guys..

And the two Americans who won medals due to that, weren't exactly thrilled. They both said thats not how they want to win, one of them said it was a 'hollow' feeling...