The Spanish athlete had enough room to pass, then the fading Ethiopian moved back on her

Disqualifying Rodriguez was the right decision. I've watched the videos which purport to show her innocence and it's clear the judges were correct to boot her out. A victory for common sense.

The big winner in the race was Jamal. She completely got a jump on the runner up Brit (who lost by one hundreth of a second, although taking a big elbow from Rodriguez right after Jamal's fall and also having Jamal run her into lane three on the drive to the finish line).

Without the fall, I think the order would have been:

1. Rodriquez

2. Dobriskey

3. Jamal

4. Rowbury

5. Jamal

6. Fernandez

7. Wurth-Thomas

Akira Kurosawa read this thread and came up with the idea for the film "Roshomon." Everyone knows what they saw and are sticking to their opinion. This is why criminal attorneys love our court system. (i.e. the Rodney King tape) The track officials have made their decision. This will happen again. Perhaps these runners will avoid a similar situation in the future.

Fanatic wrote:

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5457/In-Close-Up--How-Gelete-Burka-Got-Pushed

This video is the first frontal view camera shot that I have seen, and in it you can see that Burka is fatigued and unbalanced before any contact with anyone. After clearly beginning to lose her balance, Burka puts her right hand out and obstructs Jamal and after Jamal pushes her hand away, Burka then puts out her left hand and obstructs Rodriguez from passing. Rodriguez then puts out her right hand to maintain her balance and as a result of contact with Burka, takes one step on the infield with her left foot. Burka stumbled as a result of her fatigue and then fell because she lost her balance. Rodriguez should not have been DQ'd.

Just in case you are not kidding and really believe the words that you wrote here - check the video again. Take a careful look at what happened BEFORE Burka puts out her right hand. Rodriguez clearly shoves Burka with her right hand causing Burka to lose balance (yes, fairly easily due to fatigue at the end of a race) THEN Burka puts out her right hand, trying to regain balance and obstructing Jamal. The entire sequence of unfortunate events is very clearly initiated by Rodriguez' right arm shove.

What video were you watching? Rodriguez makes the initial contact, her right arm pushing the back of Burka's left arm and causing Burka's torso to twist about sixty degrees. Rodriguez then makes contact again in the same way, this time throwing Burka so far off balance that her right arm goes across Jamal in an attempt to regain her balance. Rodriguez then makes contact yet a third time--all three from behind--and mows Burka down while stepping on the infield. I think there's a reason the Spanish federation didn't appeal--they saw the videotape and agreed with the dq.

Fanatic wrote:

http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5457/In-Close-Up--How-Gelete-Burka-Got-Pushed

This video is the first frontal view camera shot that I have seen, and in it you can see that Burka is fatigued and unbalanced before any contact with anyone. After clearly beginning to lose her balance, Burka puts her right hand out and obstructs Jamal and after Jamal pushes her hand away, Burka then puts out her left hand and obstructs Rodriguez from passing. Rodriguez then puts out her right hand to maintain her balance and as a result of contact with Burka, takes one step on the infield with her left foot. Burka stumbled as a result of her fatigue and then fell because she lost her balance. Rodriguez should not have been DQ'd.

there girls have names other than being known as the Spanish and Ethio athletes.

Some Perspective, Jamal takes two places??? ;-)

I agree fully. The video shows clearly that Rodriguez has no room to pass on the inside (not even a thin women's body width) and Burka (remember the race leader) gets "ping ponged" with Rodriquez hitting her first, knocking her off balance and into Jamal and then Jamal bumping her back into Rodriquez. But Rodriquez makes the first and obvious contact.

Later in the video they show the back view and it's even more damning to Rodriquez, she looks like she just clubs her.

It's amazing that there seems to be so much controversy over what happened on these boards. But really, you don't pass on the inside going into a turn, it's very likely not to end well. You do the crime, you do the time.

Rodriguez was bocked in badly and Burka seemed to be slowing down so Rodriquez was soon to be in 5th place with 200M to go. She took a desperate shortcut to make up for this instead of running a safer and more sportsman approach, which may have cost her the race as well. But suck it up and play fair.

She knew she did bad, why dont the rest of you?

Stating the obvious wrote:

Some Perspective, Jamal takes two places??? ;-)

Yeah, pretty swift, eh? Ok, maybe she would have only finished once.

But, to make a slightly different point, some posters have claimed that Dirka was exhausted and that's why she fell. But I have to think that is disproven by the fact that she was knocked to the ground, got up, and still ran 4:11. If someone was truly fall-down exhausted, I don't think that they could get sent sprawling to the ground with 200 meters, get back on their feet, and still finish within 8 seconds of the winner.

I did think that Rodriquez should have been dq'd, but I also think that Jamal somewhat brought the problem on herself by first running so far off the pole. Doing that is an invitation for those behind you to sneak up on the inside. Had she stayed close to the pole rather than drifting out towards Jamal, I doubt Rodriquez would have tried to come through on the inside.

loose

Reference my NBA analogy. There are plenty of rules in that game as well, but their left to the referee's judgement. Ergo, Rodriguez did not benefit from stepping inside...it acutally hurt her position. Yet she still overcame as most champions do. If IAAF was serious about reducing the "bump and grinds" they would begin DQing in the heats when someone DOES NOT fall.

Quite frankly the most ridiculous analysis is that of the Johnson brother's "calling a spade a spade" remark heralding Fermin Cacho's analysis. Everyone knows the Portugese and Spanish don't get along -- poor journalism.

Lickety Split wrote:

Quite frankly the most ridiculous analysis is that of the Johnson brother's "calling a spade a spade" remark heralding Fermin Cacho's analysis. Everyone knows the Portugese and Spanish don't get along -- poor journalism.

Who, exactly, is supposed to be Portugese in your scenario?

The universal sports video is full speed and when you watch it, it looks pretty clear that Rodriguez pretty much pummeled Burka out of the way by passing on the inside. I think her tactical mistake was passing on the inside. IMO, Rodriguez was not robbed of her gold. I agree with the officials.

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?db_oem_id=23000&sid=-1&catid=-1&id=642601

from that video it looked to me that Natalia Rodriguez was anticipating the contact (as she tries to pass on the inside) and lowers the shoulder to have better balance for the contact

either way you slice it, she still hit Burka from behind.

I agree. DQ is good with me. Burka is the one who missed out here on a medal by someone who freaked out when was boxed in.

This DQ was so cut and dry. Burka did not fall on her own. It's pretty clear that Rodriguez made a move when there wasn't enough space. Whether she would've won anyway is irrelevant. She knocked over Burka and deserved the DQ. Even Rodriguez isn't protesting the decision.

study hall wrote:

This DQ was so cut and dry. Burka did not fall on her own. It's pretty clear that Rodriguez made a move when there wasn't enough space. Whether she would've won anyway is irrelevant. She knocked over Burka and deserved the DQ. Even Rodriguez isn't protesting the decision.

This. I can't believe people are even discussing this. Then again, so many of the Rodriguez supporters are making very similar errors with their English so either there are more Spaniards on this board than I had thought or else about two-thirds of the posts have come from the same guy.

Natalia Rodriguez is not alowed to run in Zurich .

The organiser forbbiden her participation.

Spanish newspaper

http://www.marca.com/2009/08/25/atletismo/1251196335.html

Athletics world is crazy .

Today, Semanya can Run and Rodriguez has a Zurich ban .