Carol Zaleski Speaks On Use of Underwater Cameras, Cause of DQs At SC Worlds

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SwimSwam caught up with FINA Technical Swim Committee (TSC) Chair Carol Zaleski at the 2021 Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, getting her take on the recent implementation of underwater cameras in determining disqualifications and what the cause was of the unusually high number of DQs we saw on Day 1 of the competition.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games marked the first competition that underwater cameras could be used to both initiate, confirm or overturn disqualifications, and these Short Course World Championships are the second. (The current rules only have the underwater review system in place for Olympics and World Championships, which is why they weren’t use on the FINA World Cup in October.)

Zaleski, who has been a member of the FINA TSC since 1988, explained the process by which disqualifications are called and subsequently reviewed, either if they were made by the on-deck official or the video review system.

“If a call is made from the deck, it’s reviewed by the underwater video and either confirmed or overturned, and that’s communicated to the deck referee,” Zaleski said.

“In the case of calls made with the underwater video, a call is made in (real-time), it does not get slowed down or reviewed, and then a second TSC referee comes in to review that call, just as someone would review a deck call. And after the review, that’s communicated to the deck referee for acceptance.”

Zaleski says the implementation of the underwater cameras is beneficial to the athletes, as it ensures each call is reviewed carefully before becoming official.

“If anything it benefits the athlete by giving them a double review,” she said. “There’s no disqualification that hasn’t been reviewed at least twice, either from the deck or the video, so it’s, in my opinion, a very positive thing. I’ve had very positive reactions to it from coaches, and actually had emails from two athletes after the Tokyo Olympics saying thanks for getting it in there.”

On Day 1 of Short Course Worlds, we saw an inordinate number of DQs in the breaststroke events. There were 13 swimmers disqualified in the first preliminary session across the women’s 50 breast and men’s 100 breast, and then during finals, top seed and world record holder Alia Atkinson was DQed in the women’s 50 breast semis.

Zaleski points out that an increase in calls was inevitable with the cameras being used for the first time at a short course meet, where there are twice as many turns, and also spoke on the infraction that the majority of the breaststrokers were DQed for: Downward dolphin kick into the turn/finish.

“The vast number of calls on the first day were for a downward dolphin or butterfly kick prior to the touch at the finish,” she said.

“And when we do seminars and clinics with officials, we talk about that being one of the toughest calls. We talk about half a dozen very difficult calls for officials to make, and that’s one of them. Because if you’re concentrating on watching the hands touch the wall, it’s hard to see the rest of the body and that kick. And it’s an obvious advantage, that kick that gives you a little more force into the wall.”

Zaleski adds that the responsibility is on the official to see both the hands touch the wall and whether or not the swimmer illegally kicks into the wall, but the camera acts as a “second set of eyes” in case anything is missed.

She said there were four coaches who came into look at video amid the onslaught of DQs on Thursday, and “All four said, ‘Thank you very much, obviously my swimmer made a mistake’,”.

At the Tokyo Olympics, six of 261 breaststroke swims were disqualified, or close to 2.3 percent. At the 2016 Games, prior to the implementation of the underwater cameras, none of the 254 breaststroke swims were DQed.

Through the first two days of competition in Abu Dhabi, we’ve seen 14 of 176 swims in breaststroke events disqualified, or nearly 8.0 percent.

Zaleski added that another reason for an increase in DQs could be due to lower-level athletes competing at SC Worlds relative to the Olympics, though we did see several prominent, experienced names, such as Atkinson, Italian Arianna Castiglioni and Turkey’s Emre Sakci get called for violations in Abu Dhabi.

Ultimately Zaleski says the cameras can help give both swimmers and coaches clarity on any potential issues they have with their technique, allowing them to make the necessary changes to avoid future infractions.

“We’ve worked with the underwater cameras on behalf of FINA for a long time in the United States,” she said. “My experience has been that the coaches that I’ve called in to show them things that their athletes have done—in some cases we’ve even given them a stick with certain things—have been very grateful.

“Because an athlete can be making a mistake throughout their practice and the coach is watching lots of swimmers and doesn’t necessarily see that, and so again it benefits both the coach and the athlete to know, ‘Okay here’s a mistake I’m making, and I can correct it’.”