USA DQ in mixed 4x4

news of the world wrote:

the PDF is changed, Germany is out and should be protesting, it happened on their inside and the guy ran longer with the baton

https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/ATH/OG2020-_ATH_C51D_ATHX4X400M------------FNL-000100--.pdf

a guy running longer is irrelevant

Its still a 1600 m relay

In any change situation, no one runs the same distance

koyPond wrote:

NYDCRunner1 wrote:

The one consistent thing about you bigots is your demonstrable stupidity.

Nice buzzword. Is bigot the new racist? Go be soft somewhere else if your feelings are so hurt by a joke.

You bigot, There is nothing funny about this. The intent of your "joke" is to demean the accomplishment of this runner, but even more so -Katrine Johnson and her fellow black Americans who solved some of NASA's major problems. Katrine Johnson and her fellow NASA colleagues had to put up with crap simply because of the color of their skin. What is their to joke about? You bigots consistently demonstrate your putrid mindset and ignorance at every opportunity and then try to deflect or pretend that you didn't know or was just joking. Enough already.

runnerMD/anesthesia wrote:

there is more to racing and track than simply "run fast and turn left"

Okay, that's probably the funniest thing I've read on here in a while :) When you put it like that... yeah, there isn't much to it, is there? Haha.

Turn left. Lol

RedorGreen wrote:

...but it seems intentional that our US team was trying to extend Godwins leg a few meters (idk why as he is a terrible finisher) and didn't realize they were so deep into the zone.

They were not trying to extend the first leg. Irby was never even in the exchange zone because she lined up just outside the line marking the end of the zone. It is obvious that she thought she was standing inside the beginning of the zone when she was in fact outside the end of the zone.

This is the fault of the coaches and the athlete. Their is no excuse to not know the difference between the beginning and end of the exchange zone. I don't care what an official might have told her, she should know the difference and should have realized the mistake when all the other teams were lined up correctly. They should have remained disqualified.

Yep. DQ should stand. This is the highest level of elite track and field, and it's not like she got the call to start this morning. Yes, it's sometimes confusing when you're officiating a meet to remember what all the lines stand for... but she had one race, one starting position, one exchange zone. There really isn't an excuse.

Now, if I was officiating an elementary school meet and put the runner in the wrong place... bad on me. A young athlete has no idea where to line up. High school the same. By the time you've decided on a career in athletics, in college or beyond, you should KNOW your event. Like someone said above: run in a circle ONCE. Keep turning left. There really isn't much to it.

She should have been visualizing that start position and handoff as part of her race preparation.

No reinstatement. Look at the picture, It's pretty clear she's not where she should be, and she probably had, hat, 30 seconds to notice? First leg goes out, blocks are removed and runners into their places. Yet, it goes by quick, but it's evidently enough for 99% of runners to settle into their CORRECT places 99% of the time...

If she's in lane 3 and she's looking over her left (inside) shoulder, all she'll see is the runner in lane 2 (no one in 1) and the incoming runner in her lane. At least that's all she should be focusing on. Weird that it wasn't caught sooner.

Norman fell wrote:

This is the fault of the coaches and the athlete. Their is no excuse to not know the difference between the beginning and end of the exchange zone. I don't care what an official might have told her, she should know the difference and should have realized the mistake when all the other teams were lined up correctly. They should have remained disqualified.

I do not disagree with you that the athletes and coaches were to blame. But I guess I just cannot envision the extreme stupidity of seeing a whole heat of athletes standing 20 meters behind you, and you stay put as a professional athlete. Even with an official telling you something. Maybe it was not intentional but, that seems the only reason she would be so out of place. You don't accidentally stage THAT far out.

high school xc coach wrote:

sayyestonepotism wrote:

I thought your runners have college degrees. How do they achieve those?

A lot of hand holding by hand holder who are not allowed in Tokyo.

We offer fake (sometimes no show) classes.

An army of academic tutors that do much of the work for them.

Practice exams that bear a remarkable resemblance to the real exams are also useful.

Harold #1 wrote:

Apparently the track official told the US runner where to stand so she wasn't in the wrong. Confusing yes but not the athlete's fault so the DQ was overturned. It can happen sometimes with tracks and all the lane, start and exchange zone markings. The US is the dominant team anyway so it's good to have them move on in these Games.

If the track official is at fault you reinstate. It is mind-boggling that the official screwed this up though. This is on the same level of incompetence as doing the bell a lap early.

NYDCRunner1 wrote:

Glad to hear that the USA has been reinstated. Aren't there 9 lanes to this track? Thought this was the standard build now. Spain should not be DQ. Just let them run in lane 9.

I agree. I'd even put Germany into the final too, since they were originally listed as Qualified. 9 lanes on the track, 1 lane gets 2 teams. Tough to do with blocks. But in a 4x4, I personally don't think using blocks makes any difference in the outcome of the race. Or maybe have the USA, DR, Germany, and Spain run an additional round, a "4 for 2 (or 3)" eliminator scenario.

RedorGreen wrote:

but it seems intentional that our US team was trying to extend Godwins leg a few meters

No way...You think it's intentional that the US was blatantly cheat and risk disqualification in a preliminary heat where they were a shoo-in to advance? Come on.

If the official tells you to start in a certain place, you follow the official. I'm sure she thought it was wrong but went with the official.

If the official did nothing, then DQ.

But it sounds like there was chaos caused by the officials.

Yes, that's probably what Irby thought.

But if that is the only thing that happened, then the US would still be disqualified. So something else went on that hasn't been publicly disclosed yet, otherwise the appeal wouldn't have been successful.

For the U.S. to be reinstated would mean that the official told her to go to the wrong spot at the end of the exchange zone, but somehow told the 7 other teams the correct spot to line up in.

Again. Lynna Irby totally F'd up.

Relays at different levels extend and shorten legs all the time. You can start you athlete further into an exchange zone to shorten it, lengthen another (mostly in 4x100)

Couldve tried to do that and be cute, but she started too far in. Would account for her being okay with being so far removed from the other teams

Not likely but I'm just trying to make sense of another bone head US relay choice.

They shouldn't have been reinstated

RedorGreen wrote:

They shouldn't have been reinstated

Here is what many people are ignoring. The US had to have a specific reason for their appeal to be successful. They couldn't say "We passed out of the zone but please put us in the final anyway." That wouldn't work.

So the US obviously had another reason for the appeal that the officials thought was legitimate enough to put the US in the final. We just don't know what that reason is yet.

This has to be on the officials. They totally blew the entire event.

At the end of the day, athletes should know their craft. They should know the anatomy of a track, number of turns in the stagger, etc. Basic relay aspects that we teach younger athletes.

Albeit only at the high school level, I have coached countless state champions, a few state record holders, and all Americans that understood their starting points. Even to the point that they correct officials that put them on marks erroneously. But it also goes down to young, inexperienced athletes that have been taught their sport and are empowered.

Someone stated above that the athletes have had their hands held throughout their careers, but it is the US coaches jobs to make sure that all these athletes from different universities, track clubs, and coaching backgrounds are on the same page. The US often seems under-prepared and rusty despite having elite talent.

Even her teammates could have been yelling at her, as their staging area is close. If it wasn't intentional, then it is doubly incompetent.

Are You Serious wrote:

RedorGreen wrote:

They shouldn't have been reinstated

Here is what many people are ignoring. The US had to have a specific reason for their appeal to be successful. They couldn't say "We passed out of the zone but please put us in the final anyway." That wouldn't work.

So the US obviously had another reason for the appeal that the officials thought was legitimate enough to put the US in the final. We just don't know what that reason is yet.

I get what you're saying, and it is correct. Some official probably told her the zone marker color, or instructed them all a certain way. And by that definition, there is grounds for reinstatement. But why was everyone else lined up correctly? How can she not know that she was 20 meters in front of everyone, and also very close to Godwins start?

There was incompetence by an official most likely, but we got bailed out. If it was a singular case then I would be sympathetic, but our relays are often shaky/not sharp