Hungarian iron lady Katinka Hosszu entered a monster schedule of 17 events at last week’s 2016 Hungarian Short Course National Championships. She came home with a huge haul of 16 gold medals, but was denied a record clean sweep of 17 golds after being disqualified in the 50 free prelims.
According to the Hungarian Swimming Federation, an official ruled that Hosszu moved her leg during the “take your mark” phase of the start, which led to the false start DQ. In response to the DQ, Hosszu expressed her disappointment in the ruling via a post on her Facebook page.
“I am disappointed as I don’t feel it was a fair call. If I remember correctly, I havent been disqualified for the past 10 years for a false start.”
Following Hosszu’s DQ, fellow Hungarian Olympian Zsuzsanna Jakabos continue on to the final, winning gold in the race with her 24.51 to out-touch Flora Molnar, who finished a close 2nd wigth her 24.58. Zsofia Kurdi followed to round out the top 3 with her bronze-winning 25.31.
While she didn’t get a chance to race Jakabos in the final, Hosszu’s 16 golds still made her by far the most successful swimmer of the meet.
No one saw it, there is no record in any format. Can hardly picture the world’s best swimmer to make such an elementary mistake while going for a 17/17 record. Something is fundamentally wrong with that federation as they have demonstrated it in Rio.
Moving a leg during the “take your mark” phase of the start should not lead to a DQ. Moving a leg after that starter’s command, when all swimmers are supposed to be stationary, definitely leads to a false start DQ (see FINA Swimming Rules/SW 4.1).
I think that’s what they are saying happened.