Spanish long jumper loses chance of win after officials' mistake | Inquirer Sports

Spanish long jumper loses chance of win after officials’ mistake

/ 04:40 PM February 22, 2021

Maria Vicente

FILE PHOTO: Athletics – 2019 European Indoor Athletics Championships – Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Britain – March 1, 2019 Spain’s Maria Vicente in action during the women’s pentathlon high jump REUTERS/Andrew Boyers

MADRID – A long jumper was reduced to tears when officials mistakenly erased her mark after a leap that could have brought her a gold medal at the Spanish athletics championships on Sunday.

Maria Vicente, 19, appeared to have recorded a distance above 6.50 meters with her first leap but the mark was rubbed out by two officials in the pit, who believed she had fouled.

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Replays showed the Catalan athlete, who won gold in the pentathlon on Friday, had not overstepped the mark and she was given another attempt after officials recognised their mistake.

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Visibly shaken by the error, Vicente fouled on her next jump but later recorded 6.24m, her best leap of the day, followed by a dismal 4.83.

She eventually finished third to collect the bronze medal, with Fatima Diame winning gold with 6.51m and Tessy Ebosele taking silver with 6.31.

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“There’s no explanation for what happened,” a tearful Vicente told reporters.

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“The judge saw that it was a valid jump but I don’t understand why those in the pit thought it was a foul and wiped it out.

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“I feel so emotional because I wanted to do the best I could and I lost because of this. I expected much more from the championship.”

Spanish athletics federation president Raul Chapado apologized to Vicente and her coach Ramon Cid for the error.

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“It’s our responsibility to create the best championship possible but we’re all humans and we make mistakes,” he said in a video on the organization’s Twitter account.

“We have to improve to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

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TAGS: Athletics, Long Jump, Sports

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