2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
- Thursday, April 5th – Tuesday, April 10th (swimming)
- Optus Aquatic Centre, Gold Coast, Australia
- Prelims at 10:30am local (8:30pm previous night EDT)
- Finals at 7:30pm local (5:30am EDT)
- Official Commonwealth Games website
- Entries
- Meet Schedule + Results
- Live Stream (Canada)
- Live Stream (US)
- Live Stream (Australia)
Team England swimmer Ben Proud is renowned for having one of the world’s best starts. In Thursday’s prelims, in his first swim of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Proud’s start may have been a little too good – he was called for a false start, a rare occurrence at this level of sport.
Proud’s start, which was shown in this photo by BBC broadcaster Nick Hope, looked electric to the naked eye, but officials called it a little too good, saying that his leg moved before the starting signal.
Proud later appealed the decision to an independent panel, but they did not overturn the decision
Ben Proud’s start look PHENOMENAL but apparently it was just too quick & the 50m fly world champion – who would have been the quickest qualifier – is disqualified!
Don’t think he’ll be able to overturn that with an appeal, so the Englishman will have to focus on 50m free next. pic.twitter.com/SeQURgf2P5
— ✌️??♂️ᑎIᙅK ᕼOᑭᙓ???✌️ (@NickHopeTV) April 5, 2018
“I am in the shape of my life and am gutted to miss out on the opportunity to show what I can do,” Proud said.
“Coming into the competition there is always apprehension ahead of the first race,” he said. “With fans in the crowd, I wanted to give them something to cheer about by delivering a fast time.
Many of Proud’s competitors echoed his disappointment after the race, with Australian coach Jacco Verhaeren saying that the race wouldn’t be the same without him, and with new top seed Chad le Clos saying he “would prefer to have Ben in the race and come second to someone competitive with me.”
Proud’s recorded reaction time did not show on the official results. Under relatively-recent results, because his false start didn’t appear to impact other swimmers, the heat was not recalled and the false start was assessed at the end of the race. Proud was the top seed coming in by almost a full second and a near-lock for gold (22.75, Dylan Carter seeded 2nd in 23.73), and would’ve had the fastest time in prelims were it not for the DQ.
In his absence, South African Chad le Clos qualified 1st through to the semi-finals in 23.53 followed by Carter in 23.62. Aside from Proud, not contenders were eliminated in the prelims.
Proud is the defending Commonwealth Games champion in both the 50 fly and 50 free, as well as the defending World Champion in the 50 fly.
Updated with appeal information.
I have always wondered if Ben Proud’s start is legal as he is moving the entire time from the point of take your marks to go (albeit he normally moves backwards). I think it is a combination of gamesmanship (making others wait) and being able to react quicker as he isn’t so fixed in position as others. I don’t know if there is an advantage to switching from the leaning back to forward motion but I am personally not a fan of the standing up until take your marks approach. It is bound to make you wobble occasionally even if you are as good as he is and I think it is unfair to those around him.
Appeal process is always a joke. I once had a swimmer get dq’d for blatant moving on the block when it was actually the swimmer 4 lanes across. The Referee got confused as they wore the same swim suit. The coach of the other swimmer went and chatted to the referee, but the referee was adamant that they were correct and he was so rude.
It required 5 hours of me waiting for the appeals panel to overturn it. At no point did I or the swimmer get an apology.
Ben did move, it was miniscule, and very harsh, but his legged moved and the judge/referee has decided to set a zero tolerance precedent for these games. As long as it is enforced that strictly for everybody from here on in, I dont think we can have too many complaints. The English team accepted the decision and so has Ben.
Agree with Dee. He moves. It’s very very slight, but he does move. Harsh? Yes. Wrong? Not necessarily. Swim England and indeed Proud himself have accepted the decision with very good grace I have to say.
Shame as by all accounts he’s feeling in the form of his life, and with a 22.8 heat it would have been interesting to see what he could produce in later rounds. Hopefully he gets to put it right at the Euros, definitely think the Textile WR is on.
Also be interesting to see what he does in the 50 free.
Just announced DQ was upheld; Statement from the English team thanked the panel for taking the time to analyse the case and accepted the decision graciously.
thats unfortunatess. 50 fly at Euros?
I wonder if it was the same judge who was disqualifying dozens of kids at Australian Age Nationals last year for microscopic movement on the blocks?
The strange thing is a few heats before athletes were called down from the blocks, apparently because of movement… Strange situation with his opponent (Le Clos) saying bluntly that they should overturn the decision.
Soon after age Nationals FINA sent out a memo stating that the rule should be interpreted as “forward movement on the blocks.” Which would say to me that someone is being excessively mean in their interpretation of the rule. I rember it the heat of the moment after my sons dissappointment I declared it’s a race, not a standing still competition. If a slight, involuntary twitch doesn’t give advantage to the swimmer, nor disadvantage an opponent, then no DQ.
Well, if that FINA memo is being applied, it was not a DQ. Two swimmers in the race, one in the previous race and everybody around the pool has expressed their beliefs that it wasnt the right call. An appeal is in amd hopefully officials see sense.
Not sure if it is the same one, but I am staying at the same hotel as the officials and it was definitely the talk around here today…
maybe the aussies tampered with the blocks…
Just for a correction, it wasnt his reaction time… It was for “moving on the block” once set. Replay shown in slow motion and he appeared to wobble, then jolt his right leg.
Think the DQ stands. Real shame as the mood from camp was that he was genuinely in WR-challenging shape. Hopefully he can refocus and out it down in the 50 free.
Update; heard that the appeal is yet to be heard. Consesus seems to be no advantage was gained, with Ian Thorpe now also saying the decision is questionable.
It was a heat swim where he was the fastest by a second, why take the risk?
Multiple dolphin kicks…
One would hope a swimmer takes multiple kicks on a butterfly race.