ITU Reinstates DQ in Long Course Worlds
The winner of the women’s 30-34 age group at the ITU World Championships in Oklahoma City this past August has been disqualified. Amy Stretton from New Zealand was originally DQd from the race because of what seemed an unreasonably fast swim split. She swam the 2-lap swim a minute faster than the fastest male pro – super–swimmer Dylan McNeice – and 8 minutes faster than the fastest female professional, Jodie Swallow.
The DQ was overturned on race day and Ms. Stretton’s performance was allowed to stand after race officials heard an appeal from her side. Slowtwitch was provided a thread of emails by a close observer to the process. Among the several emails in this chain of correspondence an ITU official wrote, “We have abundant proof from past races and confirmation by the coach that this athlete is a very fast swimmer.”
That did not mollify those spectating the process and commenting on social media. A hue and cry reminiscent of the now famous Julie Miller episode from this very same world championship two years ago again called into question the ITU’s credibility. And like the Julie Miller case, which took two years almost to the day before the DQ was finally rendered, the athlete's national governing (Tri New Zealand in Ms. Stretton’s case) was also pulled into the fray. "Tri NZ has received numerous enquiries,” wrote its president, Arthur Klap, to Slowtwitch, and "We are trying to expedite the process involved and hope to resolve it as quickly as possible.”
Tri New Zealand is still adjudicating its case, but the ITU has today formally reinstated the DQ it originally overturned. Its reasoning did not touch on what many consider an unbelievable athletic achievement. Rather, that Ms. Stretton’s appeal did not occur inside the time frame allowed by the rules. Neither the ITU’s technical delegate nor the race referree had, according to the ITU's statement, "the jurisdiction the day after the race to change the result as it was outside of the appeal time frame… any appeal made outside of the allotted time frame within the ITU rules cannot be recognized. As such, Stretton’s result reverts back to a disqualification.”
The ITU’s statement included that, "Stretton now has the opportunity to appeal this decision to ITU’s Arbitration Panel, however her result in Oklahoma will be nullified effective immediately."
