The Championships of DQ's

There were plenty of great moments at the World Indoor Championships.  My girlfriend Sandi Morris won her first world title, Poland beat the USA and set a world record in that incredible men's 4x4, and the Brits thrilled the home crowd with a number of medal-winning performances.  But all anyone is talking about is the same problem that plagued last year's World Outdoor Championships--the absurd number of disqualifications, many of which were for ticky-tack violations.

Now, before getting further into this, it's worth noting that last year's Outdoor Worlds were in London and this year's Indoor Worlds were in Birmingham.  Commentators and fans alike definitely noticed how overzealous the British officials were when it came to disqualifying athletes last year, and it only got worse this year.  I'm not saying there's any direct correlation or favoritism involved, but a high number of these DQ's seemed to favor British athletes, which also didn't go unnoticed.

Perhaps the biggest disqualification "highlight" from Birmingham was an entire heat being DQ'ed in the first round of the men's 400.  One committed a false start.  The other four were all DQ'ed after the fact for lane violations.  We also saw the original gold medalist in that event find out he was DQ'ed while doing a post-meet TV interview.  The silver medalist was also DQ'ed, meaning the guy who "won" the world title was actually the third one across the finish line.

Meanwhile, I'm still not sure what the actual results of the women's 4x4 were.  Jamaica was DQ'ed for a violation on one of the exchanges, moving Great Britain from fourth to bronze.  (No problem with this one.  The Jamaican clearly changed places with the Ukranian while waiting for the exchange, which is allowed in the NCAA but not internationally, where you can't change places once the incoming runners reach a certain point.)  Then the Brits were DQ'ed, too, giving the bronze to Ukraine.  Then the Brits were reinstated.  It was enough to make your head spin.

The fact that this is confusing is one of the many problems with the wave of DQ's that have plagued the last two global championships.  Let's not forget what happened last year: Colleen Quigley took one step inside the line on the water jump (an area that's supposed to be marked off by cones, but wasn't) in her steeplechase prelim, but they felt that was enough to DQ her.  Meanwhile, Mo Farah, a British icon, took multiple steps inside the rail during the 10,000, but, of course, wasn't DQ'ed.

In Birmingham, most of the DQ's were for lane violations.  The IAAF tried to have the officials' backs by offering some ridiculous rationalization that basically blamed the athletes, saying they needed to "better adapt" to the subtleties of indoor running.  But, while coming around the curve in tight quarters on a banked track at full speed, even the most experienced of indoor runners may cut in a step early or take a step on the inside while trying to regain their balance, etc.  

Technically, these are all violations that can result in a DQ, so the officials were just following the rules.  But, the IAAF rulebook is long, archaic and could definitely use some updating, a fact that IAAF higher-ups freely admit.  So, maybe common sense should prevail over strict adherence to the rulebook.  Especially if there's no advantage gained, is it really necessary to DQ someone for one wrong step, which seems particularly cruel in distance races?

For me the frustration comes less from the amount of DQ's but the ambiguity of them.  Every time they announce a DQ, the TV broadcast shows a replay of the violation.  If it's clear, that's one thing.  A false start is usually pretty obvious.  The runner who false started usually starts walking off the track before the official shows them the red card.  Likewise, if you see a fall or think there might be some sort of obstruction in a distance race, you're not surprised to see someone get DQ'ed as a result.  Or if you pass outside the zone in a relay.  No one has a problem with any of these clear-cut violations.

But that wasn't the case at World Indoors.  Not by a long shot.  I still don't know what all those guys in that heat did to get DQ'ed.  And I had the benefit of seeing the replay!  Imagine how the people in the arena feel!  If a violation isn't painfully obvious on replay, a DQ doesn't seem appropriate.  Especially when you consider the stage.

No one comes to a track meet, especially a World Championships, wanting to see people get disqualified for less-than-obvious minor violations.  In fact, part of the sport's beauty is its simplicity.  The first person across the line is the winner (unless they were a Russian from 2012-14).  You can't get more straightforward than that.  Which makes after-the-fact disqualifications that much more frustrating.  Then you throw in the protests and potential reinstatements, and you might wait an hour until the results are actually official.

Track & field is a great sport.  But it keeps shooting itself in the foot with all of these DQ's, especially since so many of them seem so unnecessary.  If you're turning off the track people (which you are), how are you supposed to attract the non-track people, who otherwise only watch during the Olympics?  Especially now that you're looking for a new star in the wake of Usain Bolt's and Mo Farah's retirements.

Maybe we're reading too much into this.  It might just be a case of the officials in Great Britain being bigger sticklers than the officials in other countries.  Or, maybe it truly is highlighting a larger problem.  Either way, the IAAF has plenty of time to fix it.  The next major international championship meet isn't until 18 months from now.  Maybe they'll have it figured out by then.  Whether the Russians will be back in the fold by then, that's a totally different question.