A ton of controversy surrounded the final of the 200m breaststroke yesterday at the Canadian Trials when Kierra Smith was disqualified for her elbows leaving the water on her recovery.
Smith touched the wall first, but was disqualified after the touch making Martha McCabe of TSC the pending 200 breaststroke national champion. Results were unofficial, and it was said that they’d be announced today at the start of prelims.
It was announced that the disqualification would stand, making McCabe the national champion.
Smith has another chance to make the team tonight in the 100m breaststroke where she’s the top Canadian seed, and second only to Breeja Larson. Smith was a 1:09.02 this morning with Rachel Nicol the second fastest Canadian with a 1:09.04.
Larson leads the charge with a 1:07.76.
I had the pleasure of teaching Kierra at Immaculata Regional High School. During my time of association with her, I found her to be a young person of outstanding moral character. She was a diligent, conscientious student. I could count on Kierra to do the job right the first time. I was impressed with her ability to balance a difficult academic load and a very demanding swimming schedule. Her drive is unmatched, as evidenced by her appearance on the world stage at the Olympics. There is no doubt in my mind that Kierra has taken her discipline and passion into the world of real estate. I have no reservations recommending Kierra for your real estate needs.
It does not appear her elbows were out of the water even when you view the race in slow motion,
in fact when you look at her body position it would be impossible for her to get her elbows out of the water and still swim.
How can she swim all over the world with the same stroke and it is consider good then on home soil she gets DQ’d for elbows above the water?
Video is here: http://youtu.be/6rcgAPNmFJQ at 2:01:00
Seems pretty clear that the elbows recover above the water.
If her elbows recovered above the water then she would sink. This is not a call that an official can make without being 100% sure and the only way would be to have a camera on the water level and review it. The athlete always deserves benefit of the doubt. Worst case scenario – the official should have gone to her coach in the morning and said that he saw something he didn’t like and then called it at night if it was not fixed. Nothing about this event happened with the athlete’s best interest in mind.
It would be highly inappropriate for a swim official to talk to a swimmer’s coach to warn them about something they didn’t like. It’s an infraction or it’s not; it gets called or it doesn’t. There are no ‘warnings’
Any links to the video?
I watched the video of the race and didn’t see Kierra’s elbows come out of the water once. Good thing these officials don’t officiate the NCAA meet. Or are the rules somehow different?