It’s been a heartbreaking day for Minnesota Golden Gopher Kierra Smith who’s now been disqualified twice in the 200 breaststroke, the latest being in finals, where she’s appealing the decision in hopes of being named the national champion.
In the prelim heats of the 200m breaststroke, Kierra Smith swam the fastest time out of a very star-studded field, dropping a 2:25.69 to take the top seed heading into finals by almost a full second. After her race, she found out that she had been disqualified. The ruling was that her elbows left the water while she was throwing them forward.
As per FINA rule SW 7.3, “The elbows shall be under water except for the final stroke before the turn, during the turn and for the final stroke at the finish.” Smith fought the DQ this morning and won, earning herself a spot in finals.
Tonight, she won the 200m breaststroke race, although after she touched it was announced that results were unofficial. Smith was once again disqualified for what is speculated to be the same reason with her elbows. Smith is once again fighting the disqualification.
As of now, Martha McCabe of TSC is the national champion with a time of 2:24.53. Smith did touch first at a wall, so pending the removal of her disqualification she’ll be named the national champion.
It’s speculated that the announcement of official results in the event will be given sometime tomorrow, possibly during or prior to day two prelims.
Both McCabe and Smith made the “top 16” standard that’s needed to make the World Championship roster, so if Smith’s DQ is overturned, both her and McCabe should have a spot on the World Championship team.
Kierra swam all over the world this year in countries like USA, Australia, Great Britain , Gatar
and the only place officials find fault with her stroke is in Canada?? And they do not even notice that lane 7 had her arms all over the place. No offense to lane 7, but how can you focus on one swimmer and ignore someone else.
I would love to see the video of this in slow motion
Watching the live feed of prelims yesterday is was extremly obvious that her elbows were above the water. It’s sad that Canada’s fastest 200 breaststroker will have to see if she is personally chosen for the world team, but there is no point in bringing her if she proves over and over that her stroke is illegal.
There seems to be a high number of dq’s at this meet, and they are not getting this much attention. For example, Marni Oldershaw posted the third or fourth fastest 400IM time today and was dq’d. Where is the big debate about that?
A lot of people are misunderstanding the situation. This DQ is for this meet and this particular finals swim. It doesn’t matter what Kierra has done at other meets, only this meet. Also, the thought that she is purposely trying to push the limits or cheat is so unfair to the swimmer. This is just Kierra’s stroke that has evolved from her years of swimming, not something she’s calculated to try to trick the judges. Also, the fact she was dqed in the first place, shows they aren’t taking precedent to who the swimmer is.
FINA SW7.3 – “The elbows shall be under water except for the final stroke before the
turn, during the turn and for the final stroke at the finish.” Upon watching her recent swims, it is clear to me that her elbows are recovering above the still/calm waters surface. Swimmers will push the limits of the rules (ie double dolphin kicks off the wall in the Olympics) to their advantage and it is up the the judges to uphold the rules. The benefit of doubt always goes to the swimming and that is the golden rule in officiating swimming. This call would be made at the age group level and accepted so why should be any different at the highest… Read more »
Agreed. I think the only reason there is a protest is that she has made it so far with this not being called. Hopefully they uphold the DQ. Not because I am against the swimmer but because I believe that the rules needs to be enforced at all levels no matter who is in the water. She will have another chance to make it in the 100. She seemed to keep her elbows under the water during prelims ( or at least until the end where I feel they came out) What I don’t understand is what is taking so long. That is a big disappointment. This is a great example as to why I tell junior officials to call… Read more »
So true, I understand not wanting to DQ a 12 year old for not doing something properly, but guaranteed most of the time the coach has told them not to do it, and it creates bad habits. In other cases (such as this) it allows an illegal stroke to go unnoticed. Luckily now she can change her technique and still potentially be selected to the teams and be a podium potential. Instead of being selected and getting dqed when in a medal position at international competition.
It’s like the rules only apply to certain people in breaststroke. What are they waiting for a believable excuse not to dq her? If I were the official I would stand by the dq and then take a screen shot from the video showing the elbows clearly out of the water and email it to the coach. I know that you can’t use video as an aid in an appeal but at least everyone would know the right call was made.
They really need to start using video replay in major meets. I think the the presence of cameras alone would deter most of the cheating. It’s ridiculous when world records get to stand when there were clearly illegal… Read more »
wave rider – while video replay is not used by FINA, it can, in fact, be used to overturn disqualifications. USA Swimming, for example, uses it at their National Championships, and it was used at Pan Pacs last summer.
Video is not used to make calls, but can be used to overturn them. More here:
http://swimswam.com/despite-fina-vote-usa-swimming-pan-pac-nations-push-forward-video-replay/
This is a disgrace. C’mon Canada.
Officials do not review tapes of previous meets before a big meet. Saying a swimmer has never been DQ’d before means nothing. Many NCAA swimmers should be DQ’d at their meets and are not. I have had a swimmer admit to me that he cheated at a NCAA meet as he knew he could get away with it. The officials at trials are well qualified and I am certain if they called it they saw it more than once. The sad part to me is that the original DQ was overturned and she had to be DQ’s twice.
This is absurd.
I call for a boycott of the breaststroke until FINA comes up with some standards that can be regularly enforced.