Alex Walsh Gets Disqualified From 200 IM Final After Initially Winning Bronze

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

In the final of the women’s 200 IM at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, American swimmer Alex Walsh got disqualified for an illegal back-to-breast turn. The World Aquatics rulebook states that you must be touching the wall on your back following your backstroke leg, but in footage shown by Peacock, Walsh is shown touching the wall with her stomach facing the floor of the pool.

Walsh had initially won bronze in this race with a time of 2:07.06, which is 0.07 seconds faster than her best time of 2:07.13 from 2022. The 200 IM was her only race of these Olympic Games. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she was the silver medalist in this event.

Because Walsh got DQed, initial fourth-place finisher Kaylee McKeown of Australia ended up being awarded the bronze.

This race is not the first 200 IM race where a major contender has been disqualified. At the 2023 World Championships, McKeown had been disqualified for the same reason as Walsh in the semi-finals. Swimming Australia had called McKeown’s DQ “unjust,” claiming that Walsh completed an illegal turn in the finals of that meet — where she won silver.

Canada’s Summer McIntosh remains the gold medalist from the 200 IM race, while the United States’ Kate Douglass got silver. Douglass got bronze in 2021, and was alongside Walsh on the podium.

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steve busch
3 months ago

So will FINA eliminate the hand touch in the back to breast turn? That’s what they did when the crossover backstroke turn became too controversial to officiate.🤪

Kitajima to Lochte to Walsh
3 months ago

The rule needs to change. Felt the same way in 2023 with Kaylee. Make it like the actual backstroke turns. Less confusion.

So much more consistent and equitable to enforce where so few races actually have video review. Video review is so extremely rare when thinking about all the meets that go on in the world. So when a close call rule only gets slow-mo video replay at a major national or international championship, is by definition not equitable. So very few actually make it to that level and are judged by video in slow motion. I wish I was good enough to worry about video review but no one cares about my turns.

Precedent – Kitajima. No one… Read more »

Fred
Reply to  Kitajima to Lochte to Walsh
3 months ago

Good point(s). There was also the breaststroke stroke rule that prohibited the crown of your head from going underwater. That was changed for the same reason: almost impossible to consistently/accurately enforce.

Aragon Son of Arathorne
3 months ago

this tears me apart. But, it was flagrant. Put Alex on that medley and you will see a swimmer swim the fastest she has ever gone.

Yikes
Reply to  Aragon Son of Arathorne
3 months ago

No way, she is not faster than any of those girls. The Olympic final is not for sympathy swims

FredRightandGlue
Reply to  Yikes
3 months ago

Agree. It tugs at your heart strings and the coach in me is all about giving someone redemption, but Olympic finals? You screw that relay up because emotions get the best of you and you’ll never live it down. That was one of the finest medley relays I have ever seen in an Olympic Games and I’m too old to count the number of Olympics Ive seen.it was flawless.

Keith
3 months ago

Stop advocating for a rule change. It’s the IM- each stroke’s rules apply to that segment. Would you advocate for touching the wall past vertical in the 100 or 200 back?
Alex was clearly past vertical when finishing the backstroke section.
Heartbreaking? Yes. Bad call? No.

Aragon Son of Arathorne
Reply to  Keith
3 months ago

love A Walsh to pieces but you are 100% correct.

Fred
Reply to  Keith
3 months ago

I’m an old guy, but I had a couple of SEC records (IM and backstroke). Have seen a bunch of rule changes relative to strokes and turns, all of which were made in order to reduce confusion and increase certainty. And not coincidentally, allowed for faster swims. I think this turn rule has a good chance of being changed/clarified also.

UVA Fan
Reply to  Keith
3 months ago

No. YOU stop trying to impose your will on those of us who want to advance the sport. Blind pedantic adherence to over-complicated rules that serve little or no significant purpose only perplex and deter young people who might otherwise be interested in competitive swimming.

You want to grow the sport like the majority of us? Here’s a tip: Simplify it! Start by banning IM cross-over turns entirely and allow only “open” turns in the back-to-breast transition. Or adopt the better approach by allowing conventional backstroke turns in all IM events. You can’t begin to imagine the amount of wasted time, effort and frustration saved by coaches, swimmers and, dare I say, officials by doing this — time and… Read more »

Fred
Reply to  UVA Fan
3 months ago

Agree. None of these rules are carved in stone. There have been many changes over the years, all aimed at reducing confusion and having to “interpret” whether a swimmer did or didn’t follow the rule. The goal should always be to have as much clarity as possible in how to interpret/judge the strokes and turns.

Keith
Reply to  UVA Fan
3 months ago

Settle down, Beavis. I’m not trying to impose my will. I’m just a guy with an opinion based on the rule book and that I believe the best swimmers in the world can follow those rules.

Matthew McElroy
3 months ago

Many people are advocating for changing or removing the rules, based on one swimmer’s inability to follow the rule. Or, as many of you pointed out- a coach’s inability to fix a problem, or officals’ hesitancy to DQ the dominant swimmer in the region.
My understanding is that the IM requires you to swim a COMPLETE 50 or 100 of each stroke. If a swimmer was doing the final leg of the 100 backstroke and rolled over, they would be DQed. If the backstroker in a relay rolled over, they would disqualify the relay.
This is something I used to work on with my low-level high school team. You have to fix those things routinely. We saw someone… Read more »

Doug K
Reply to  Matthew McElroy
3 months ago

I used to do stroke and turn judging at summer swim team meets, always felt bad about dq’ing the kids. But the coach pointed out, better a dq here so they can fix it, than a dq at a high-level meet later..

Big Cheese
3 months ago

The DQ was overdue, esp. after the no-calls at Fukuoka 2023.

She probably got away with it plenty of times and now turns this way by force of habit.

The international commentators blamed it on poor coaching, but her teammate Kate’s back-to-breast turns have mostly been safe.

That’s why I say: DQ early, DQ often, and DQ consistently. Otherwise old habits die hard, and you end up DQ’ed in the most important race of your olympic career.

have you ever
Reply to  Big Cheese
3 months ago

That wasn’t a marginal infraction like barely missing with the second hand on a two-hand touch — that was a flagrantly illegal turn. It is likely poor coaching all the way back to the age group level, where Kate likely perfected her turn. But there is no question that somebody should have been seeing this (on video if nothing else) and helped her fix it more recently.

Yikes
Reply to  have you ever
3 months ago

I agree, I’m guessing a combination of being taught/allowed to do this when she was young, it going ignored in meets for years, and ignored in practice made this kind of an entrenched habit. I’m also wondering by her reaction at the end of the race, where she seemed to kind of be holding her breath, means that it IS something she’s been talked to about in practice and she knew she messed it up. In a high-stress event like an Olympic final your muscle memory likely takes over more than your brain, that’s why developing good habits is so crucial so you have less to consciously think about.

Total bummer for her and I’m sure there are a… Read more »

Awsi Dooger
3 months ago

Devastated for Alex but at least she made the correct decision to return for another year at Virginia. Imagine this hanging over her if she had made the opposite choice. How could she be motivated at Pro Swim meets, or whatever else she was doing? Now she can savor the laughs and camaraderie of another care free college year while aiming for 5 in a row, with the bubbly spark of Claire Curzan.

Tswimmer
3 months ago

Alex is a leader and will bounce back. She is an Olympic swimmer forever. Very few can say that.

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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