Approximately three hours after the completion of the men’s 200 free final at the 2016 French Elite National Championships, in which defending Olympic champion Yannick Agnel appeared to finish second but was deemed to have placed third, the Appeals Committee issued its official decision. A rough translation by Anne Lepesant follows:
Meeting of the Appeals Committee
The Appeals Committee, made up of
Mr. Francis Luyce, President of the FFN,
Mr. Michel Sauget, general secretary of the FFN, federal delegate,
Mr. Henri Wachter, Vice-president delegate, in charge of elites,
Mr. Gilles Sezionale, Vice-president delegate, President of the swimming commission,
Mr. Jacques Favre, National technical director
met today, Wednesday, March 30, 2016, in order to study the complaint submitted by Mr. Lionel Horter, on behalf of Mulhouse Olympique Natation, concerning the ranking of the A final of the 200 meter freestyle event.
The Appeals Committee became aware of the complaint and found it admissible.
It took note of the response made by the event referee and fully analyzed all information provided.
Considering that the video, being unofficial, cannot be used in these circumstances, the committee heard the arguments of the referee and verified that the official published rankings are perfectly consistent with FINA rules.
In consequence, the committee confirms the decision of the referee and the published rankings and times.
Agreed to in Montpellier on Wednesday, March 30 at 9:35 p.m.
I don’t think I can be convinced this isn’t personal.
Mark Cianciolo, thanks for the precision.
It is totally unacceptable that there is not video review at these big meets. They need to have video review at trials meets, Olympics, and Worlds. They should run the replay like college football does. All they would need is a designated official on standby to review video. No coach appeals to prevent coaches from challenging everything. Keep the meet running while the review is going on. If something looks close like a 15m breakout for someone in the top 3 just say results are unofficial and move on to the next heat while the video is being reviewed. There would need to be irrefutable video evidence to dq someone or overturn a call. The video review wouldn’t take long… Read more »
I don’t think someone should be able to set a WR in breast or IM without underwater video review being used to verify the legitimacy of the race/integrity of the swimmer.
I had my doubts until I saw the video. This is an absolute joke. Every official should be pulled off deck and replaced immediately.
And how do you not have video backup at your National Championships?
When my kids swim at meets with touch pads, each lane also has volunteers with a stop watch and a plunger – just in case there is a touch pad “malfunction”. I realize it’s not the same thing, but I find it interesting there’s no redundant system in place for important meets like this. Maybe it’s not realistic or practical, but this result just doesn’t seem fair. One more thing, our summer league trains our starters to watch each race finish closely, just in case there is an issue with the times (touch pads are not used during summer meets). In 5 years as an official, I’ve never seen a starter have to be consultant but it’s nice to know… Read more »
If only FFN had the good sense of the late Justice Scalia. See Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 379 (holding that when an alleged fact is clearly contradictory to conclusive video evidence, traditional presumptions of truth should be discarded).
What does Jordan Pothain have to say about all this? I think they’re still bros.
https://twitter.com/sophiekamoun1/status/715248607272763394
I’d speculate that Agnel got confused with the lane line colors and may have forgotten to touch the pad.
(What the eff? blue? yellow? blue? yellow? what kind of lane is this? Oh crap!) apologies…
I don’t think Agnel would have anything negative to say about Pothain, he had nothing to do with it.
For those saying it’s a conspiracy, I mean, c’mon. Do you really think that the French Federation thought that far ahead, “Hey, no matter where this race winds up at the end, let’s make Agnel 3rd!”??? Also, if there was really going to be a conspiracy, wouldn’t they have Pothain’s touchpad register BEFORE he touched to beat Agnel? That would make more sense to me if someon really were trying to cheat Agnel out. So, I don’t think there is a conspiracy BEFORE the race began. I DO think, however, that if the French officials could not see that Agnel finished… Read more »
I thought this post was right on until I read that you used to hate somebody mainly because he was French. That I don’t get.
The video posted above doesn’t work for me.
I’ve found another one.
Tell me if it works.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x41227m_natation-la-confusion-au-finish-de-yannick-agnel-qui-n-ira-pas-aux-jo-de-rio_sport
Bobo
assume he will be on the relay..but does he then boycott the games entirely or threaten to unless they over turn the results?