MADRID, (Reuters) – A long jumper was reduced to tears when officials mistakenly removed her mark after a jump that may have brought her a gold medal at the Spanish athletics championships yesterday.
Maria Vicente, 19, appeared to have recorded a distance above 6.50 meters with her first jump but the mark was rubbed out by two officers in the pool, who thought she had fouled.
Replays showed that the Catalan athlete, who won gold in the pentathlon on Friday, had not overstepped the mark and was given another try after officials acknowledged their mistake.
Clearly shaken by the error, Vicente fouled on his next jump but recorded 6.24m later, his best jump of the day, followed by a miserable 4.83.
He finished third overall in the bronze medal, with Fatima Diame winning gold with 6.51m and Tessy Ebosele taking silver with 6.31.
“There is no explanation for what happened,” a tearful Vicente told reporters.
“The judge found it to be a legitimate leap but I don’t understand why those in the pool thought it was dirty and put it off.
“I feel so emotional because I wanted to do the best I could and I lost because of it. I was expecting a lot more from the championship. ”
The president of the Spanish athletics federation, Raul Chapado, apologized to Vicente and his coach Ramon Cid for the error.
“It’s our responsibility to create the best championship possible but we’re all human beings and we make mistakes,” he said in a video on the organisation’s Twitter account.
“We need to improve to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”