Absolutely unolympic. Mentally impaired guy shows up to Paralympic shot put 3 minutes late, wins gold, is DQd for being late

Years ago I was at the airport (Heathrow) in London. I had a 3 hour layover for a flight. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when we would be boarding. Suddenly heard a faint “final boarding call for Flight XXXX’. 8 of us ran to the gate, but, alas, we did not make it.

Initially the airline claimed it was our fault. However, there were 8 of us who missed this call, all had been there more than 30 minutes. It turns out the speakers in our area were not working, hence why we missed the calls.

Given that others did not make it in time, I am guessing something similar for this PARALYMPIC scenario.

Rules are rules

Supralapsarian wrote:

Years ago I was at the airport (Heathrow) in London. I had a 3 hour layover for a flight. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when we would be boarding. Suddenly heard a faint “final boarding call for Flight XXXX’. 8 of us ran to the gate, but, alas, we did not make it.

Initially the airline claimed it was our fault. However, there were 8 of us who missed this call, all had been there more than 30 minutes. It turns out the speakers in our area were not working, hence why we missed the calls.

Given that others did not make it in time, I am guessing something similar for this PARALYMPIC scenario.

but there would have been boards and a default 'go to gate / boarding' time anyway, which you ignored.

Supralapsarian wrote:

Years ago I was at the airport (Heathrow) in London. I had a 3 hour layover for a flight. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when we would be boarding. Suddenly heard a faint “final boarding call for Flight XXXX’. 8 of us ran to the gate, but, alas, we did not make it.

Initially the airline claimed it was our fault. However, there were 8 of us who missed this call, all had been there more than 30 minutes. It turns out the speakers in our area were not working, hence why we missed the calls.

Given that others did not make it in time, I am guessing something similar for this PARALYMPIC scenario.

While I can agree that Heathrow's got problems, the Tokyo Olympic facilities are all newly renovated. I don't think the communications systems were broken there.

However, one relevant issue is that these F20 athletes need help from handlers, and they were limited in who they could bring as support to Tokyo. That certainly could have hampered communication and transportation.

Rule: if while walking to the shot put circle you turn your head to the left, you and your family will be fed to a pack of hungry wolves.

Letrun.com: rules are rules.

Everyone on this board has probably participated in many track meets. And probably everyone has had experience with overzealous track officials who disqualify athletes for not having their shirts tucked in or gesturing in the home stretch or taking one step on a line. These officials are pitiful. TRACK OFFICIALS SHOULD BE BASICALLY INVISIBLE. They are not as important as referees in the NFL or NBA or umpires in MLB because there are really no rules to enforce. Just measure things and make sure no one cheats. The only absolute stickler rules in track are can't foul in the jumps or throws, can't false start, can't cut the corners on the track, and can't knock someone over. OTHER THAN THAT EVERY OTHER RULE IS A TECHNICALITY.

This ruling is a disgrace. Anyone who thinks this athlete should have been disqualified is either just trolling or, if I set the rules, should be imprisoned (rules are rules).

But until the rule is changed it is still a construct we all live by.