Over the week end, (for the first time in 30 years of competitive swimming) I was disqualified. It bothered me a little bit for about thirty minutes but after a few plates of food at the all-you-can-eat brunch across the street, I was fine. I did have a question though. Do the officials usually tell you that they are disqualifing you? The official came over to my lane and said something to me (about my *** pull-out on the 200 IM) after the heat but never actually said that I was disqualified. I was a little confused so after I got out of the pool I walked over and asked, "Did you disqualify my?" The answer was yes. Never having experienced this before, I was wondering do the officials usually actually say "I am disqualifying you" or "You are disqualified" or is the suggestive comment supposed to serve this purpose.
I got DQed at the conolidation finals of the League Champs of my first and only year that I swam at college. It was in the 400IM and my back to *** turn apparently wasn't legal because my hand didn't touch the wall or something. it was when back to *** flip turn was used. I was kind of happy because I did about a low 4:20s even though I was doing a 4:17 for the previous years in my high school years. I think that my teammates thought that I was nuts that I wasn't upset over it. Today, I would be estatic if I could do a 4:20. Right now, I will settle for the 4:55 range in the 400 yard IM.
In Pacific we usually give the swimmer a slip of paper that says at the top "Disqualification". It is very rare that I will explicitly tell a swimmer s/he has been disqualified. I usually tell them what they did and that was the infraction the swimmer committed - and I give them the dreaded slip.
(also if you dont think you deserved it, first you should talk to your coach if the coach is there - he may have a different view of what you did. Then see the referee -the person standing next to the starter with the whistle around his neck. Make the appeal to him).
Also for those going to Worlds, the deck officials do not seek you out to let you know you have been DQed. You usually find out when you look at the results and there is a DQ next to your name.
michael
it would be more fair
if judges could make calls from video play back and
underwater footage
ande
Originally posted by LindsayNB
I was a turns judge at an age group meet on the weekend and I have to say that judging backstroke turns was torture, especially with the younger and slower swimmers. In so many cases there was a glide between the end of the pull and the start of the flip, and usually it was just on the border of whether it was clear enough to DQ. There were probably at least four cases that a more experienced/confident judge would have DQed, including the girl in one of my lanes in the very first heat of the very first event. I only actually DQed one swimmer in backstroke and that case was really really clear.
A second cause of torture, and what suprised me more was the number of breaststrokers who went too deep on their pullout and didn't break the surface by the start of their insweep. Again there were several that a more experienced judge likely would have called, only one that was so clear that I DQed him. It is hard to watch two swimmers in two lanes at once if they are relatively even. I also had a girl that I am quite sure dolphined a little as she glided into the wall, but I was focused on watching her hands for the two handed simultaneous touch that I was too late to clearly see it. But I can't think why else her hands and head started to bob up and down while gliding. I did see the guy that won the 100 *** gliding into the wall when his feet actually came out of the water and then caused a splash as they went back down. But it wasn't my lane and the judge in that lane was focused on the hand touch.
There was also a girl who I am pretty sure was still well on her back when her toes left the wall in fly on her first turn, but it took me by surprise so I waited for her next turn, and it was very close but legal.
I wonder if at some point judges will have some sort of video playback to check.
Linsay:
That is where experience comes in. After seeing thousands of turns you will know in your own mind what is a legal turn and what is not. And when you see a illegal turn you will call it. If you dont see it - it did not happen. (Yes, there are many that will get by - you cant call what you dont see or only partially see).
Best of luck on the deck
michael
it would be more fair
if judges could make calls from video play back and
underwater footage
Option 1
Interesting proposition. How much do you want to spend to go to a meet? To set that system so that it is fair cameras would have to be above every lane and under every swimmer.
Omega charges thousands of dollars for putting in their system for the worlds and Olympics. There are 6-10 technitions working on the sytstem.
Option 2 - the low cost one
Life aint fair.
michael
Originally posted by michaelmoore
. How much do you want to spend to go to a meet?
Not only this, how much time do you want to spend at a meet. When each heat is over I don't want a couple minutes of down time while the officials review the tape.
I agree with Kirk. While video replay would help any confusion, it would suck up lots of meet time. You've seen how long it takes football refs to view replays to make a call. Imagine doing that fives times per event.
I'm an age group coach and I try to teach my swimmers to do everything right in practice, as Ande said earlier. But sometimes things slip up, and after you're DQ'd the first time you never, ever want it to happen again.
Many years ago they used real bullets in the starting pistols.
And notification of DQ was very harsh in those days. It was swift and immediate, so you knew right away after your offense and didn't have to ask what they didn't like. Some officials used spears.
I like how things have changed in swimming over the years.
