In a rather disheartening scene following the 1650 free at the ACC Championships for swimming this past weekend, a college swimmer was disqualified from a win after celebrating with his teammate.
According to The Big Lead, N.C. State’s Owen Lloyd was disqualified after taking first place in the race with a personal best of 14.37.04. But after taking victory, he went into the lane that his N.C. State teammate Ross Dant to celebrate with him.
Referees reviewed the race and decided to disqualify Lloyd on the grounds that he interfered with someone’s race by going into their lane – even though the race was for all intents and purposes over.
As you’ll see in the video below, Lloyd was absolutely devastated by the decision from the race officials. By being disqualified from the win, Lloyd is also disqualified from the NCAA Championships.
The Big Lead asserted in their commentary on the scene that this was far more of a “letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law” violation that took place. They called on the powers that be to overturn the decision and allow Lloyd to get his title back and his qualification for the NCAA Championships.
It may be little comfort, but Dant offered to give the gold medal he received to Lloyd in a show of solidarity.
Nevertheless, fans of swimming and sports fans in general are furious at this scene and just about everyone is decrying the decision as a case of the officials just wanting to make the race all about themselves.