We merged two threads into 1. 1 was called "Masalela celebrates and almost loses at the like" (sic) and the other "Masalela DISQUALIFIED for pretending to shoot Habz on finish line". The first thread was started before the DQ. We have added in a full video link to what happened yesterday here: https://x.com/gabyandersengz/s....
You guys are all soft as sh*t. No wonder no one watches this sport anymore. Your sport will stagnate into irrelevance while you guffaw about "sportsmanship", and you will deserve it.
Nah homie, you're just sad and depressed and need to see what is ultimately fake drama between other people to give your anemic system some fleeting and vicarious "excitement" in your otherwise rude life.
How about taking up a hobby and hoping to actually achieve something to replace the void - a birdhouse? cutting board? knit yourself some mittens or a scarf?
Look I don't exactly like Habz for certain reasons - then again I'm not sure someone from Botswana should be pointing fingers (literally or figuratively).
But you can't do this and WA needs to stop it immediately before it becomes a pandemic of stupidity like we see in other sports where athletes see it, think it's "badass" and then start adopting it. Just like the idiots in football that drop the ball at the goal line because they saw someone else do it and think that it's the ultimate display of showing up your opponent - like "you made this so easy for me I didn't even need to hold on the ball".
If you want to pull the Steve Ovett and wave to the crowd with 80 to go? Fine - it's not directed at anyone and people will decide for themselves if you are a dickhead or not. But pulling out the "gun" and figuratively "taking out" someone? No. Can't do it.
Nice performance for Masalela to get the win in 3.32.5 - too bad that performance is dissolved from the record books, as well as the $3000 bucks for the win. F-around and find out young fella.
I am so glad they called it cause the amount of stupid finish line antics I’ve seen at local races is gross. The Alex yee arm crossed thing or “silencing the haters” sign for winning your local 10k in 45 minutes. Cringe.
Just do the F-ing running and leave your BS theatrics at the door. Oh and that includes Hockers "put to sleep" crap. Win arms in the air....fall down on the track withering with joy and congratulate your competitiion..... and show up to the next meet and do it again. Leave all your stupid A-S BS for your social media posts
I say the opposite. Our sport is so underfunded and overlooked because it has almost no theatrics. Such a physical activity, yet has no teeth whatsoever.
Bring in the taunting, trolling and celebratory gestures.
Let them talk off the track, bring hype before like Kerr and Jacob. No need for finish line rubbish, and shake hands at the end and show some sportsmanship.
This post was edited 35 seconds after it was posted.
Some people think this is "good for the sport" - I disagree and think that's a very immature way to look at it. You can have a great rivalry without crossing the line or even approaching it (Coe v Ovett, Kerr v J.I, even Johnson v Lewis).
After his win in the '84 LA Olympic 1500 meters, Coe made a huge display of flipping the bird to the spectators in the stands.
Some people think this is "good for the sport" - I disagree and think that's a very immature way to look at it. You can have a great rivalry without crossing the line or even approaching it (Coe v Ovett, Kerr v J.I, even Johnson v Lewis).
After his win in the '84 LA Olympic 1500 meters, Coe made a huge display of flipping the bird to the spectators in the stands.
Did he yeah? You must be a historian of the sport.
See I could have sworn he was putting up two index fingers with his palms facing outwards gesturing that he had in fact just won "TWO" Olympic 1500m titles back to back (which I think he just had?), in a direct response to the fickle UK media questioning if he should have been selected ahead of Peter Elliot (who beat him in the AAAs) as I believe Ovett (WR holder) and Cram (the reigning WC) had already been automatically selected. But then again I don't have a great memory and could be completely wrong about that....
The DQ for an apparent finger gun gesture occurred in Poland, which has much stricter gun ownership regulations than the USA.
In Poland citizens can own a gun only if they first obtain a permit, only if they intend to use the gun for specific purposed, and they must pass a medical, psychological and other examinations first.
Not sure who the officials were or where they were from that made the DQ in Poland, but one has to believe that the general attitudes and beliefs toward guns likely contributed to the decision to DQ.
Attitudes toward gun gestures associated with sports have changed since Noah Lyles made his gesture in 2022. That was when the NBA was in the beginning of the Ja Morant gun incidents, and both the NBA and NFL have taken a much harder stance against the use of finger gun gestures since then.
If Lyles made that same gesture today, he would be more likely to receive a DQ.
Did he yeah? You must be a historian of the sport.
See I could have sworn he was putting up two index fingers with his palms facing outwards gesturing that he had in fact just won "TWO" Olympic 1500m titles back to back (which I think he just had?), in a direct response to the fickle UK media questioning if he should have been selected ahead of Peter Elliot (who beat him in the AAAs) as I believe Ovett (WR holder) and Cram (the reigning WC) had already been automatically selected. But then again I don't have a great memory and could be completely wrong about that....
Whilst I accept some athletes do it as a playful gesture, the point is it is ambiguous enough and has very obvious connotations that are threatening. And whilst it may not literally mean an athlete is going to shoot someone, it is generally intended as an insult. Would giving someone the finger after a race be acceptable? No it would not, certainly not in my country. It's also a gesture that has gang-related connotations in many countries.
These are professional sports people with sponsors competing in a regulated competition, with sponsors & financial backers, in front of the media & fans, some of which are impressionable children.
When London won the 2012 Games against Paris, would it have been acceptable if Lord Seb Coe looked over to the French delegation and did the gun sign to them? Do we not hold everyone to the same standards?
Some people think this is "good for the sport" - I disagree and think that's a very immature way to look at it. You can have a great rivalry without crossing the line or even approaching it (Coe v Ovett, Kerr v J.I, even Johnson v Lewis).
After his win in the '84 LA Olympic 1500 meters, Coe made a huge display of flipping the bird to the spectators in the stands.
Damn, americans are soft. Im dissapointed with so many in here supporting this. DQ for this?
Its nothing. Ridiculous.
Again, there is a line here for everyone, even you. Almost everyone here is saying that the usual finish line antics, whilst cringe, aren't really an issue at all. But there is a tangible difference between making a 'shh' motion, and pretending to shoot a specific athlete in the head. If that isn't the line for you, there is nevertheless a hypothetical celebration that would be 'too far' for a professional athlete- pretending to stab the other athlete to death? Running up to a competitor's family and giving them all the finger? A sieg-heil?
If we agree that this isn't WWE and there are limits to how obscene a distance running celebration is allowed to be before a DQ or fine is appropriate, then this is a conversation worth having before the major champs return, because as others have noted, these celebrations are becoming much more common and not just in the B races like this one.
But they let Hocker get away with the “put em to sleep” taunt and Lyles getting away with gunfingers at multiple meets. I didn’t even feel like Masalela was pointing it at Habz since he started the celebration once he had a stride on him.
When I saw this yesterday, Jonathan Gault immediately texted me the Noah Lyles 2022 USAs celebration. Should he have been DQd for this?
Damn, americans are soft. Im dissapointed with so many in here supporting this. DQ for this?
Its nothing. Ridiculous.
Again, there is a line here for everyone, even you. Almost everyone here is saying that the usual finish line antics, whilst cringe, aren't really an issue at all. But there is a tangible difference between making a 'shh' motion, and pretending to shoot a specific athlete in the head. If that isn't the line for you, there is nevertheless a hypothetical celebration that would be 'too far' for a professional athlete- pretending to stab the other athlete to death? Running up to a competitor's family and giving them all the finger? A sieg-heil?
If we agree that this isn't WWE and there are limits to how obscene a distance running celebration is allowed to be before a DQ or fine is appropriate, then this is a conversation worth having before the major champs return, because as others have noted, these celebrations are becoming much more common and not just in the B races like this one.
No, theres no actual difference. Its all antics. Its the same as doing the finger across neck motion, which is way more "offensive" but very normal in sports. None of those you mention is anything else (apart from sieg-heil) anything more than antics. Also, there is different categories. If you include running up to a family, thats another category. Lets keep it to the one we are in: antics against competition. This is nothing, why didnt you guys react like this when Noah did it?
To compare it to WWE is ridiculous. And more common? Hello, look at the last 30 years. These things ebb and flow with the different athletes. Then we should also remove trash talk, celebratitions before the finish line, staring at a competitor before the race, no boasting etc. You could argue one could get a warning etc, but straight to DQ? Its still ridiculous.
Coe was not "flipping the bird". He was clearly gesturing with his index fingers. His display was aimed at the press and other people who had doubted him.
No, theres no actual difference. Its all antics. Its the same as doing the finger across neck motion, which is way more "offensive" but very normal in sports. None of those you mention is anything else (apart from sieg-heil) anything more than antics. Also, there is different categories. If you include running up to a family, thats another category. Lets keep it to the one we are in: antics against competition. This is nothing, why didnt you guys react like this when Noah did it?
To compare it to WWE is ridiculous. And more common? Hello, look at the last 30 years. These things ebb and flow with the different athletes. Then we should also remove trash talk, celebratitions before the finish line, staring at a competitor before the race, no boasting etc. You could argue one could get a warning etc, but straight to DQ? Its still ridiculous.
The Noah situation has been addressed multiple times already- he looked like he was pointing because of the use of one finger, that's why noone particularly cared. Since then we've seen a clip of him doing an Eastwood-esque 'quickdraw' and shooting multiple opponents who he'd just defeated (after the race, from a distance). This is obviously less ambiguous but it is undoubtedly more 'theatrical' than if he'd walked up to one specific athlete and pretended to shoot them in the head point blank. I'd completely disagree that the finger across the neck motion is 'way more offensive'; particularly as the athlete does it to their own neck. A fair comparison to Masalela's action in this case would be an athlete reaching towards an opponent's neck and pretending to slice it, or pretending to tie a noose around an opponent's neck. Would you be ok with that? If not, why not?
Also, I've already said I think the way forward with this type of conduct is through a fine (perhaps shaved off his first place winnings) rather than a DQ, in the same way that other 'serious' sports treat these kind of professional conduct infractions.
I played coos and robbers at school as a child. We shot each other thousands of times. I watched a movie last night where people held real guns and shot each other and fake blood made it look like people got killed. If that is acceptable, how can a finger warrant a DQ? Do you even hear how silly that sounds?