Why U.S. Swimmer Alex Walsh Was Disqualified Despite Finishing Third

U.S. swimmer Alex Walsh, who seemed to be on the way to winning the women’s 200-m individual medley but finished third, was disqualified.

Walsh was leading until the last 25 m of the final freestyle lap but was out-touched at the wall by Canada’s Summer McIntosh and fellow teammate Kate Douglass.

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But Walsh, who won a silver in the event in Tokyo, was disqualified for an inappropriate turn from backstroke to breaststroke, according to USA Swimming. The transition is a tricky one that’s been the topic of much debate among swim officials. According to the international swimming federation FINA, the same rules for each stroke apply in a medley race, and for backstroke “the swimmer must touch the wall while on the back.” In the individual medley, that has to happen before the swimmer moves into the next stroke, which is the breaststroke that’s swum face down. On Saturday, when Walsh touched the wall to finish her backstroke leg, her stomach faced the bottom of the pool, resulting in the disqualification.

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There are multiple ways that swimmers choose to make the backstroke-to-breastroke transition—touching the wall while still on the back and then pulling their knees in to their chest to push off the wall while on their stomach; going deeper and doing a backflip like a gymnast and flipping around to the stomach; and the final, riskier option known as the crossover turn. The crossover can be done in two ways—in the first, the swimmer touches the wall on their side, after the last stroke on the back but making sure not to rotate past 90 degrees. With this option, the swimmer touches the wall, leaving the arm extended and rotating to get on their stomach all while maintaining contact with the wall, for the breaststroke. In the second version, the swimmer turns to the side stretching out a hand to push the wall behind them while remaining mostly on their back and not rotating past 90 degrees, which would result in a disqualification. Then the swimmer pulls the forehead to the knees to turn and face the direction from which they came to start the breaststroke.

Walsh’s younger sister Gretchen is also competing in the Paris Games. She won gold in the 4×100-m mixed medley relay and silver in the 100-m butterfly and the 4×100-m freestyle relay.