I absolutely hate to see Hocker gone, but that was a pretty egregious move. Especially when he led almost the whole race, just stupid to give it up when he did.
All I will say is they better be real good at being consistent in apply the rules. Recall the US W 800 championship where one runner bumped another out 3 lanes (Wiley) and there was no DQ. Nor do they call things as tightly on cutting in when in traffic. So, be consistent.
There is incidental, reactive or accidental contact. what Cole did looked intentional like a pass rusher spreading the blockers
Hocker was slightly different than Meghan Hunter slamming into Wiley in Eugene. Hunter took a giant step out without looking, so she was entirely to blame for the contact, but the contact itself was not intentional. Hocker was intentional. I would argue both instances should be a DQ, but Hocker's infraction one level higher (if there were such a differentiation).
If we had more penalty options in track (like football), I'd DQ neither, and give Hocker a 2 second penalty and Hunter a 1 second penalty (which would have the effect of a DQ for both but seems more fair).
Too many bodies on the track leads to this stuff. Fifteen runners in the heats is especially ridiculous. Go back to the old competition format with more heats and 10 or fewer runners in each race. Hell, there used to be only nine in the final.
Good summary. The notions of: stars should get preferred treatment; fouls are ok if you are passing rather than being passed; and your foul should be excused if someone else's worse one wasn't called; rightfully played no role in the judges' decision.
Watching what he got DQed for is just nothing but face palms. People want this sport to be more popular, but you've got the olympic champ getting DQ'd at the world champs for simply squeezing by competitors in a crowded finish. So stupid, useless, and crazy. The people who made that decision, and then denied the appeal, need to be fired immediately, and Hocker needs to be reinstated for the final. It really makes T&F seem like a joke when this happens at the absolute highest level of the sport.
DQs have a purpose. Simply racing in a crowded finish is not one of them.
That I should live to see the day , when a citizen of the most powerful nation on earth , gets disqualified for pushing an athlete of a minor country out the way .
Watching the race, when Hocker had the rail and the lead, I wondered why Hocker let someone pass him and then take the rail. Why didn't he hold the lead? Next thing you know, he's all boxed in.
And if he would've barged through in the first 1200 they might've let that go, but not so close to the finish.
And watching Hocker after the race, I think he knew he was in trouble.
Whatever you think of the rules and officials, it's bad look for the sport and sucks for fans that Hocker won't be in the final.
I would have preferred a solution that allows the impeded runner to advance to the final. Maybe that just causes more congestion problems in that race though.
Hocker forced his way in to a spot that wasn’t there. DQ was super likely. He made a major tactical mistake of getting swallowed up at 400m to go. That is why he found himself boxed out of the top 6 on the home stretch. Did he have any other options the last 50m of the race? Probably not. He needed to make better decisions before then.