2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
Update: this afternoon, NBC Sports posted an underwater video of King’s turn. While certainly a better view than the overhead view originally aired, it’s far from definitive – the call does look plausible, however. See the video below:
Original Post:
After FINA assembled its entire Bureau on Thursday evening in Gwangju to review the disqualification of American breaststroker Lilly King, a final decision was rendered to not overturn her disqualification in prelims of the 200 meter event from the morning session. The official on deck called her for a “non-simultaneous touch” on the race’s first turn of 3, and after both protest and appeal, that call was not overturned.
What We Do Know:
- Video review is in place at this meet, and can be used only to overturn disqualifications. When the process runs smoothly and efficiently, the video has often been reviewed even before the conclusion of the race. It can then be reviewed again during the protest and appeal process.
- There is no further statutory appeal that King can make.
- The official was in the correct position to make the call. That probably increases the threshold of clarity needed by video to overturn the call.
- An overturning of the disqualification would have eliminated a swimmer from the host team South Korea.
What We Don’t Know:
- FINA has not released any underwater, high resolution, or close-up video of the turn.
- We have asked, but aren’t certain if the underwater videos caught the hand placement or if there was some video malfunction.
- What the exact result was of the vote of the Jury of Appeals
Rio 2016 Video
To be absolutely clear, and reiterate above, we don’t have video of King’s turn for the 2019 World Championships. We do have good video of her turn from the 2016 Olympic Games, where she was not called, but some fans thought she should be.
It’s clear, when slowed down, that King’s turn technique is a little unorthodox. One wrist is extended, and one wrist is flexed. So, the touch is not truly “simultaneous,” though in slow enough motion, nobody’s is.
I am not a certified official, and certainly don’t have the training of the caliber of official that would be on deck at the World Championships, but in my opinion, I would have a hard time making that call in real-time. At the same time, it’s not nothing, and if there were a little more exaggeration of this difference and the shoulder dip on the left side this week, it could very well be a disqualification.
Original Post:
After FINA assembled its entire Bureau on Thursday evening in Gwangju to review the disqualification of American breaststroker Lilly King, a final decision was rendered to not overturn her disqualification in prelims of the 200 meter event from the morning session. The official on deck called her for a “non-simultaneous touch” on the race’s first turn of 3, and after both protest and appeal, that call was not overturned.
What We Do Know:
- Video review is in place at this meet, and can be used only to overturn disqualifications. When the process runs smoothly and efficiently, the video has often been reviewed even before the conclusion of the race. It can then be reviewed again during the protest and appeal process.
- There is no further statutory appeal that King can make.
- The official was in the correct position to make the call. That probably increases the threshold of clarity needed by video to overturn the call.
- An overturning of the disqualification would have eliminated a swimmer from the host team South Korea.
What We Don’t Know:
- FINA has not released any underwater, high resolution, or close-up video of the turn.
- We have asked, but aren’t certain if the underwater videos caught the hand placement or if there was some video malfunction.
- What the exact result was of the vote of the Jury of Appeals
Rio 2016 Video
To be absolutely clear, and reiterate above, we don’t have video of King’s turn for the 2019 World Championships. We do have good video of her turn from the 2016 Olympic Games, where she was not called, but some fans thought she should be.
It’s clear, when slowed down, that King’s turn technique is a little unorthodox. One wrist is extended, and one wrist is flexed. So, the touch is not truly “simultaneous,” though in slow enough motion, nobody’s is.
I am not a certified official, and certainly don’t have the training of the caliber of official that would be on deck at the World Championships, but in my opinion, I would have a hard time making that call in real-time. At the same time, it’s not nothing, and if there were a little more exaggeration of this difference and the shoulder dip on the left side this week, it could very well be a disqualification.
The videos that are available are from above the surface, and while it looks there like a simultaneous touch, there is some blurring of the definition of the hands that might otherwise be able to illuminate the exact nature of King’s turn (if her turn is unchanged from Rio – this one wrist flexed and one wrist extended is certainly not visible from the television angles).
Lilly King disqualified for this turn, what they are calling a non-simultaneous touch #FINAGwangju2019 @swimswamnews pic.twitter.com/wZ8QM5x9iz
— James Sutherland (@jimmy_hug3) July 25, 2019
— James Sutherland (@jimmy_hug3) July 25, 2019
Conclusions
Inconclusive. The logical path is that FINA had a clear video shot underwater that at a minimum was not enough to overturn the call, or perhaps confirmed it.
I’m not buying any conspiracy theories about King being outspoken and FINA targeting her for a disqualification. She hasn’t even been the most outspoken breaststroker at this meet, and if FINA is going to target athletes in this manner, they’re probably not going to target the Americans – which is a federation that, if they wanted to, probably has the power to break the proverbial back of a thinning FINA authority. There are Americans working the video review cameras as well. There’s no way that so many people, especially once it goes to the full-scale FINA Bureau (which has 2 Americans on it), that all of those people stay silent in this era where whistle-blowers are given cult status. None of that adds up.
If there were any conspiracy, the better one is that the official made the call authentically on deck, and the FINA Bureau wasn’t inclined to overturn it because of the fact that the host country, South Korea, would lose a semi-finalist, and this could have swayed their interpretation of a close call when reviewed.
Ultimately, FINA should release the video and an explanation of the call. In a meet where they have been absolutely battered, if they believe that the call was correct, detailing that publicly is an easy ‘win’ from a public relations perspective. The NBA now does last 2 minute reports from all close games, and ESPN puts a ‘strike zone’ box on the television screen during baseball games. Both have been the best advancements in officiating in years. This would be FINA’s way of following suit.
Lilly King
Put on a brave face in the stands. This video, from teammate Grant Shoults, shows her with her goggles on and doing her pre-race routine just before the start of the semi-finals. The silver lining is that now she has an opportunity to figure out what went wrong and correct it before the really big show begins: ISL The Olympics.
https://t.co/46aTrPkXg9 pic.twitter.com/3TmS47m2c6
— grantshoults (@grantshoults) July 25, 2019
If anyone is called for a simultaneous touch–there should be a replay of all the touches by all the swimmers. The DQ needs to be reversed if anyone who was not DQed has a less simultaneous touch. Since no one ever actually has a simultaneous touch no one can ever conclusively show a perfectly simultaneous touch.
She admitted that she deserved the DQ today. She still had to protest. What did that make of her? She knew about it four years ago or at least she was caught doing it then. How would other US swimmers who competed with her feel? “Everyone does it”?
I guess she is not a cheater until caught. And once a cheater, always a cheater. Those people swam for a decade and knew all the tricks.
It’s just annoying to me as a fan that THIS was called for a DQ when we’ve seen multiple swimmers over the past few years do double dolphin kicks (much easier to see from above and underwater camera) and not be called on it.
In that bottom picture, it certainly looks like her left hand touched below her right hand which is cause for dq
nope. SW 7.6 At each turn and at the finish of the race, the touch shall be made with both hands separated and simultaneously at, above, or below the water level. At the last stroke before the turn and at the finish an arm stroke not followed by a leg kick is permitted. The head may be submerged after the last arm pull prior to the touch, provided it breaks the surface of the water at some point during the last complete or incomplete cycle preceding the touch.
Does FINA understand how hard these athletes train to compete at this level? How many years of 6:00AM workouts and commitment. Too many DQs at this meet. There needs to be a rules committee meeting to sort this out. Seriously, 1 fat judge who can probably barely swim can destroy an athletes dream with the sillest of DQs. The only 2 real DQs at this level should be actual false starts and obvious multiple dolphin kicks. FINA is run by two 80-year olds from Uruguay and South Africa and a Kuwaiti involved in a bribery scam. No wonder the professional swimmers are revolting. It would be nice to see the US, Canada, Australia, and Europeans get together and either form… Read more »
You are absolutely right. All these 6am workouts…. what are a few doping offences, false starts or rule infractions in comparison… they shouldn’t be DQs!
And also yeah officials from the US and Europe are never corrupt and are super efficient non-bureaucrats that will save FINA!
Wow more simplistic logic in your statement than an elementary school playground disagreement
So, it’s OK to violate the rules if you train hard at 6am? Or at least the rules that you deem “real.” Swim legally and there won’t be any DQs.
Per officiating guidelines, a DQ is not to be called unless it is personally observed after given the swimmer the benefit of the doubt. To say that this standard was not applied, with the distorted view from above the surface, the speed of Lilly’s turn, and the unperceivable difference in the timing of her touch… would be an understatement.
Unfortunately this is too often lost on officials. I don’t believe Lily was given the benefit of the doubt.
There needs to be something down with the rampant cheating in breaststroke as a result of all the butterfly kicks. But this turn is not something that needs to be over analyzed. Unless it is really clear it was 1 hand, this shouldn’t be a call being made.
The call was made by an experienced official. It was reviewed using video replay and was not overturned. I’d say that a very high standard was applied.
The Rio video is not a DQ. Lilly’s technique is used frequently and in some cases taught by coaches. The technique is not cheating but does come with increased risk of a DQ and this likely is what happened here at the World Championships. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt the officials had a clear picture from the video. I also agree with Braden that FINA should release the video.
It’s a DQ.