This Is Actually Awful

[@MaxumKornilov]

That is straight up distance added to your race.

[@ckobo84]

That's the kind of thing that can't never not happen

[@MidnightZenZ]

@@ckobo84ditto

[@19Kamau79]

If you have ever raced 400m you know you should start calm and focused before shifting to relaxation, in case of myself I would be so pissed of disturbance as going out angry and hard, therefore crashing after 280m. That official should be banned for life.

[@menzimazibuko1573]

Good thing Belgium still got the Gold in the finals

[@thedailystride5407]

Poetic justice. Plus Doom’s last leg was GOaTed

[@khumokwezimashapa2245]

​@@thedailystride5407Ye. Bro split a 44.88. Awesome

[@ladend99]

Doom was the only one to run a sub 45.

[@RobertJohnson-bj5lk]

DOOM Is Coming For You. Does that dude not have THE most perfect name for an anchor leg runner.

[@luckyspurs]

@@khumokwezimashapa2245 Sub 45 indoors is wild. Loved his confidence to just sit behind and wait for the final straight. In both the individual and relay.

[@torunit4620]

As a senior official and referee, you are correct. This is ridiculous. It's not as easy as it might look but I do this job. You rarely touch the athletes, possibly at lower levels you have to do some preventative officiating. As you advance up to the World Championships (I've been an Olympic official) you know the athletes have been trained what to do. You stay out of the way and simply judge what happens.

[@fishers_murf]

Totally irresponsible to have called this Foul Play without experience officiating. As a former official I agree with everything that @torunit4620 said. I can add background for those who haven't in my opinion what happened here down to the ROOT of the problem. 1) Belgium is responsible for not being in lane 1 and this never would have happened. 2) They got yanked way out there and wasted time confusing their incoming runner because he fought the official yanking back on him instead of swapping positions quickly. Mistake #2 for Belgium even if the Judge was wrong.. That's why you don't touch them. 3) The ROOT of the problem though traces back to MS & HS. We are underpaying Track Refs and finding and keeping Refs in every sport is hard. If you get into officiating for the money rather than the love of the sport, you will be sadly disappointed. They are quitting/retiring in record numbers and Track is at the top of the list. They are often asked to move up to higher level meets unprepared when there is a shortage. The first time I ran a pole vault was at a D1 College Meet because they couldn't find people. I would not be surprised at all if this guy hadn't done much beyond a volunteer at a MS meet in Poland, or a HS Ref who isn't accustom to having someone tell him what to do in his ear. Why he had someone in his ear giving him directions is beyond me, the 4x400 moves to fast even in HS. It would be more productive to do a video on the problem with losing Refs in youth sports instead of calling things like this Foul Play because it all trickles up.

[@dhirajpallin2572]

The athlete's foot was in the 3rd lane from the inside, was it called for to try and move him a little?

[@torunit4620]

@@dhirajpallin2572 You try to place them in the order they reach the end of the back stretch (100m to go). If there is a contentious spot you would allow them to switch if a pass happens on the turn. Once they hit the straight, let the runners run to their teammate. Technically we could DQ a team that interferes with another team making their pass by being out of place. In this case, I can't find video of the race, but it looks like Belgium is coming off the turn in first. Placing them in lane 1, USA in 2 and Kenya 3 should have been the last responsibility of the official and he should back off. Knocking an athlete off balance at that critical moment is the last thing he should be doing.

[@torunit4620]

@@dhirajpallin2572 That athlete belonged in, was entitled to, lane 1 not lane 4 and knocked off balance by the official. Wherever the athlete was, it was not that official's duty to move him. At that level, the athlete should know better. If he did something wrong, throw a flag and send it up the pipeline to the referee and maybe even a jury of appeals to decide. We get jaded because elite American athletes get stupid at international meets about rules and procedures they should have learned at the junior or high school level. And really, in this race, the American was out of place. If anyone was subject to a DQ, it was the American team.

[@dhirajpallin2572]

Thanks for the info!@@torunit4620

[@nlocnil3602]

What the hell was he doing 😦

[@lukewilliams2573]

Cheating official on drugs

[@abner2193]

Some old codger who probably has dementia, could have been the person giving him those instructions over the earpiece as well.

[@RobertJohnson-bj5lk]

They were having a “senior moment”.

[@EliHank]

Rigging

[@GoGoTwice]

This is the transparency Athletics needs to provide - don’t hide it

[@veganpotterthevegan]

Anyone that watched this would have seen it. The transparency was on camera and live for the fans to see in person

[@fabioronchietto]

Justice was served with Belgium winning the gold. Regarding the incident, the only thing I can think of that would justify the official's poor decision making is that he got the two white shirts confused, but even then, man-handling an athlete in that way is completely out of line. Hopefully a lesson learnt for world athletics.

[@rodjohnson2632]

From the way the official was holding and pulling the runners, he could have easily tripped both of them. The runners' loss of focus and concentration alone could have ruined the race for either team. How such inept officiating can be hired for a world championship is beyond me.

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

Not only does it affect Belgium but it affects Slovakia too. Their athlete definitely didn't need to be well out there and the first leg Belgian runner had to leap out the way to avoid the oncoming Slovakian

[@paulgoudfrooij6561]

They should put in a formal complaint

[@RobertJohnson-bj5lk]

1:09 - freeze frame at 1:09 to see some truly Ancient officials wearing blue blazers. It’s nice to give senior citizens something to do, but making them responsible for on the track split second decisions is a Disaster waiting to happen.

[@orangew3988]

Thats just what we look like at 35 in Glasgow

[@cloverite]

Yes let’s give it to young officials who would have changed pronouns three times during the race.

[@mageough]

Someone in that crew lost out on their trip to Paris.

[@luckyspurs]

Are they local officials for that specific track, or British Athletics officials or IAAF officials, that do all World Championships and Olympics. I've never thought about it.

[@mageough]

@@luckyspurs from my limited experience as an athletics official, it is likely a mix of officials coming from across the world. I would guess that more would come from GB&NI, then Europe then rest of world with English as the lingua franca for the team. Paris 2024 will definitely be more representative of the world. This incident was very odd.

[@matejstankovic9843]

His mates were probably like: "Bet you won't do it" 🤣

[@datguiser]

He was a guest star on Impractical Jokers

[@markmeridian3360]

Unbelievable. To drag the leading team into the 3rd or 4th lane is hard to explain. It's either total incompetence or malfeasance.

[@Patsoor]

They knew Belgium was the only one that could beat the USA. And we still did

[@markmeridian3360]

@@Patsoor Congratulations, it was impressive!

[@Wootification]

He possibly thought lane 1 was on the outside and was told to move him to lane 1. Definitely can’t make that kind of mistake if your job is to position them into the correct lanes 💀💀

[@jonnynice8366]

Jeez, imagine yelling in to the microphone "LANE 1, NO, LANE OOOOOONE!!!".

[@467076]

This is what makes more sense, that he was just clueless about the sport.

[@minichikimakubex]

Yeah haha i thought the same he grabbed him almost to the other side like nonsense, he was already perfectly positioned

[@luckyspurs]

@@467076 I think he just didn't realise Belgium were leading and is so used to the athletes being in the right lane before he gets there, he thought his job was just to separate them rather than to line them up in order. So just assumed Belgian were meant to be in lane 3. Still horrendous to start dragging the guy wider though.

[@nahadoth2087]

@@467076 That doesn't at all make sense. He's an official in a world championship. They aren't just randos they pull from the street. These people know what they're doing. They for sure know where the lanes are. This being intentional sabotage makes a lot more sense.

[@khumokwezimashapa2245]

This is so crazy. I don't wanna sound disrespectful, but these old heads are causing problems in our sport.

[@teganmckechnie3574]

Facts! I was racing this weekend at a local meet and one of the officials was literally chirping us guys before our race because we were all ready to run 5 min early but she wouldn’t let us do any runs and kept talking smack to us. One of the other guys started shit talking her after which was great but he never should’ve had too

[@freddym6643]

>doesn't wanna sound disrespectful to old heads >has Gojo profile picture

[@Jayzero008]

@@freddym6643fax

[@stalin1909]

100% Absolutely agree

[@RobertJohnson-bj5lk]

If you think that official is old, freeze frame at 1:08 - 1:09 to see the two Ancient officials wearing their dark blue blazers.

[@markn89]

He might have mixed up the 2 white jerseys as we see him try and flip the 2 guys on the outside, but even then why did he need to try and pull the athlete that hard

[@michaelmcginley7930]

Thats what i though.he got the two white vests mixed up

[@tijgertjekonijnwordopgegeten]

The problem is that one of those two should have been in lane one and he didn't try to pull the other one in the other direction.

[@jamesj8047]

​@@tijgertjekonijnwordopgegeten Right 👍🏼 and that's a big problem that contradicts the main comment. Even if you mix up the two white jerseys he should have been pushing one of them to Lane one and didn't so that argument doesn't work 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@matthewplampton955]

My thought too. He got them confused with Slovakia.

[@jamesj8047]

@@matthewplampton955 Again, the problem with your theory is regardless a white jersey was in front and instead of pushing the white jersey to the inside where he should have been he was pulling them to the outside Lane. It sounds like you guys are trying to make excuses 😂 Even if you mixed up the two white jerseys one of the white jerseys was in the lead yet the official had both of them on the outside so you guys don't make any sense 😆

[@Thegardener87]

Never seen anything like this at all!

[@joeycarter8846]

Back when I ran 4x400's in high school, we shifted ourselves on the track. You'd think the big boys could also.

[@jesstowns10]

At around 2:35 in the video: "After the race there was someone who overheard the man [the official who pulled the runners out of their lanes] saying, "That's what they told me in my earpiece." If this is true, then it appears that someone instructed the official to do this. And if so, who was speaking into his earpiece?

[@ShadowcoreNot]

thanks for clarifying

[@leefswgoh7558]

"there was someone who overheard him say" is unfortunately very far from actual proof.

[@joowsty]

i bet i know the nationality of the person who instructed him tho..

[@maxb148]

​@joowsty And what nationality would that be? Because I am going to assume it is a Brit who have no standing in the Mens 4x4 and are the country hosting

[@jesstowns10]

@leefswgoh7558- Yes, that's why I included "If this is true". We also, conversely, don't have proof that the official didn't say "they told me in my earpiece". I'm pointing out why this allegation is important, and why it should be investigated.

[@Heathen.Deity.]

So what if you’re told in your earpiece? Anyone worthy of being in his role should have known how wrong it was.

[@Bodkin_Ye_Pointy]

That was not an accident. That is clearly sabotage of the Belgian team. Does the race winner auto qualify? Because money says there would be less of a TV audience if the Yanks didn't qualify.

[@luckyspurs]

Wow, the 1,500m final was amazing. Beamish winning, Hocker 2nd, Nordas looking exhausted down in 5th. How wonderfully random.

[@cattycats4]

nordas also ran a pb

[@thomism1016]

I am so embarrassed😡😡😡. Here in the United Kingdom, we take our athletic seriously. You can be rest assured that this will be thoroughly investigated. Like you, I am glad there were no consequences to the eventual outcome of the race or even athlete injuries, for that matter.

[@jmgonzales7701]

How can we make running a more mainstream sport

[@Harry-mf6rq]

​@@jmgonzales7701When this is the most interesting thing that's happened in the sport for a while, it's an uphill battle to make it mainstream

[@jmgonzales7701]

@@Harry-mf6rq i think its impossible

[@eliassaratsis]

Will you be covering Tentoglou's comments about the proposed long jump changes?

[@paulclarke7571]

The craziest thing I saw live at a high level track meet in a men's 4x400m final goes like this...Runners lined up in the 8 lanes. The gun goes off! The false start gun malfunctioned and runners all took off. The 4 inside lanes were stopped by other officials who were on the ball. BUT the 4 outside lanes continued 300m before they caught on. You simply can't restart the race with 4 exhausted runners just having run flat out for 300m! The coaches for these teams were steaming mad. In the end the race was rerun 1 hr later. At any meet, the 4x400m relay is the last event. So this delayed the end of the meet by 1 full hour. Whacky stuff happens in track as in all sports. You just hope the best team wins in the end.

[@nathangoode1089]

This happened in a high school cross country race. The second gun went off for a false start. Only half the athletes stopped, so the officials just let the race continue, and the half that stopped had to catch up

[@RobertJohnson-bj5lk]

@@nathangoode1089. What the fukc is anyone doing calling a false start in a 3+ mile long XC race for? Some officials need to be reminded of their place. That reminds me of the officials at the Penn Relays in the spring. There’s always a 4x100 relay with old men in their 60’s. There’s always a starter who has to call a False Start a disqualify a team of old dudes from the only big race they have a chance to compete in all year long. A$$HOLE.

[@keithv3767]

Did he mix up the white jerseys? He thought the Belgian was the Slovak?

[@CreativeCache101]

That's what I was thinking, but still, manhandling him like that is not necessary anyway

[@keithv3767]

@@CreativeCache101 Totally agree.

[@hakancarlsson2881]

Both guys he moved had white jerseys so that can't explain it either.

[@CreativeCache101]

@@hakancarlsson2881 no that's why he may have done it, he didn't move both, he moved the Belgian and the other guy just kept backing up because he knew he was meant to be on the outside

[@josdenis3684]

I hope this guy won’t be invited in future meetings.

[@TullMorse]

Who paid that guy off?! THAT 'person' should have no place anywhere near a track ever again. 🤨🙄

[@dcartier1692]

What about another moment - and I can’t remember if it was men’s or women’s - where the runner in lane 2 waiting for the baton was poking the runner in lane 1 in the back, repeatedly?

[@grondhero]

I don't ever pay attention to track, outside when I used to watch the Olympics, but I've seen in football officials screw up like this. One, college or NFL, there was clearly a few inches between the football and the first down marker and the official gave it as a first down anyway (and done right in front of the defense's sideline) and quickly hurried to get the next play started. Another was in kids football (maybe high school) where the official picked up the chains and moved it to the football, picked up the football and moved it to the chains and then declared a first down. (He was later fired.)

[@gonzalolopezdemiguel8764]

Iguacel is actully my teamade and he said that the judge/referee apologize to him ;)

[@Ximme]

Train je bij Lieve?

[@gonzalolopezdemiguel1127]

@@Ximme with Christian Iguacel

[@leefswgoh7558]

@@gonzalolopezdemiguel1127 goed verhaal wel

[@yourdead3332]

No, Iguacel also has the spanish nationality. I’m an ex-teammate of Iguacel in belgium but I’m sure @gonzalolopezdemiguel8764 is a teammate from christian’s spanish club

[@yourdead3332]

The question Ximme asked was in dutch but the translation to english was faulty by the way. He asked if your trainer is Lieve (van mechelen)😊. Hope that clears it up

[@zelandakhniteblade5436]

Seems clear what happened, at least absent an official statement. The controller meant for the Slovakian to be in lane 4 and either (s)he or the track official got confused with both being in white shirts. The ending to the story is that Belgium won the final with some further interesting action in the last baton exchange of the final, with the Americans in first place trying to get into lane 2 and the Belgian athlete in second trying to avoid being pushed right out into lane 3. All very unsavoury in a sport that is already suffering from an overdependence on doping that is not being policed to the level that fans have a right to expect. That's a far bigger issue than an official getting things badly wrong but is rarely, if ever, discussed in a serious way outside of specific scandals.

[@mattsmith8191]

senior moment - his brain malfunctioned under stress. Like when seniors hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake

[@aljole683]

That’s crazy. I’ve seen lots of races with lots of officials at lots of levels of experience. That’s either cheating, or compete ineptitude.

[@rickpaulos]

simple fix, change the rules: fastest qualifying team changes in lane 1, second fastest qualifying team changes in lane 2, third fastest qualifying team changes in lane 3, etc. No official needed on the track. one less official to pay. (or pay off). This change would eliminate all the kaos and should be done at all levels from pros to high school.

[@wazzup105]

why weren't they (Belgium) in lane 1 to begin with?

[@tomlingier6238]

they were, the judge told the americans to take lane 1 and then dragged Iguacel out

[@jonahmays]

I honestly can’t think what he was doing. What an idiot. At least the athletes kept a cool head and finished the race strong but what on earth was that

[@CatianaKeys]

The way I SCREAMED at my TV (even though I'm US-American and always love to see them him). The fact I have not seen one statement about his atrocious behavior still makes me mad. That's the worst judging I have seen since starting to watch the sport in 2009 and as a mid-rank athlete myself the second worst including meets I've been at myself. The worst was a dad actually judging his daughter's race and trying to disqualify the winning relay so she'd get gold.

[@emp4959]

What in the actual heck was that?!?!?!😮😮 that honestly should make anyone watching upset. Unless someone can give a clear freaken answer as to why the was necessary!!!!

[@ladend99]

This was so aggravating to watch. What were the officials doing

[@baileyayyy5085]

as someone who has never participated in a track event this is utterly unconscionable

[@rosrebel]

This pulling of an athlete by an official is blatant interference and Shouldn’t have taken place ...but my gut tells me that somebody wanted to ensure that the USA won ...but they didn’t ,and were well beaten ...otherwise Belgium would have had good reason for filing complaints .......but it’s still not good enough ..I hope the Belgian athletic federation log a complaint with the iaaf and the organizers ...something has to be made of it ..the official had absolutely no business on the track ...very very strange ..

[@marieke3522]

Would you say team USA is at fault too?

[@AndrewWhitehead-h7w]

One needs to be careful selecting bureaucrats in all areas - overreach is real risk with ‘inappropriate’ personalities.

[@KittyKarenpoo]

If his "earpiece" told him that Belgium was in 3rd, then he was correct in pulling him to lane 3. But, he also pulled the athlete into lane 5, which as well put the 4th place team into lane 6. This would constitute THREE errors in one instance. The question then becomes, was the meet official guilty of three or only two of those errors. Now, we would be giving him the benefit of the doubt by saying he committed two errors. Best we can do. More likely, he committed three errors, and none of this implies that he did any of them deliberately, but that is a solid possibility. Which team was he pulling for, and how close did they finish to make the final six?

[@footbike_life]

Glasgow champions got many similar moments. They don’t do it good.

[@dckatyx9577]

“Bob, Team Belgium is too pale for lane one. Give them a four lane DEI penalty.”

[@janepizalli373]

Unreal! I'm starting to wonder if the NSA/CIA actually hacked the comms, which produced such an idiotic stunt! Wow!

[@waynejudgementdembclaat1626]

I don’t hear you mention anything about how Great Britain caused team Jamaica women to be out of their 4x400m relay also. Hopefully, you’ll do a video about that soon.

[@jeredboyd2566]

Why was Belgium in lane 3 (apparently) before the official intervened? Is there footage of the 2nd leg moving into their respective lanes?

[@tomlingier6238]

Belgium was in lane 1, the judge told usa to take lane 1 and then dragged Belgium out

[@Sough]

Awful lol. It's indoor track.

[@brianandrea3249]

The American was NOT gonna move from poll position. USA was clearly in second place so he knew that he should be in the second lane but made no attempt to move. Frankly it smacks of bad sportsmanship (at a minimum) and placed the offical in an awkward postion who screwed up..

[@peterderidder9922]

Even cheating couldend hold our tiny country from winning the final !

[@_Davidruns]

Nah Fr, im glad they still won the gold medal because them being pulled out that far was crazzy!!!

[@henlo9543]

Can you also talk about the decathlon yesterday with the high jump things and they dident even show a single jump aswell

[@Covenantt666]

But if you meant the heptathlon I saw several jumps, at least from the Norwegians, Erhammer and Mullings plus a few others here and there. Maybe your provider chose not to show it. The local broadcasters, in my case the swedish one, have some discretion what they show at any given moment.

[@davidcairo5183]

So for those wondering how this happened, the official in on the track got told (via his ear) that the order of the athletes was wrong and he had to change it. This was a wrong call from higher up. He was just doing what he was told.

[@marksmyth5505]

Wow that is disgraceful 😮 something should be done about that .

[@vioxx111]

Totally unacceptable

[@tcbspeedruns1768]

Dudeeee this happened to me in high school at Penn Relays. Like match the colors, its not hard

[@abubenadem]

If you think the US, don’t get all kinds of advantages deemed accidental and unintentional!

[@Andy.mikhail137]

You should investigate kiptums "accident"....that car looked like it was shoved from behind into a tree....and kiptums body had no blood on it

[@toffeeballs]

That official should be stepped down, regardless if someone had said something in his ear he should know better than to drag athletes that far out or at all tbh.

[@gordonwaldner9792]

Since we can't see the placing as the runners entered the last corner. The out going runners are to line up in the order their team enters the corner. If someone passes after that they are at fault for what happens. I've been either running relays or coaching relays since 1963. I''ve never seen an official manhandle an athlete like that, but don't be too quick to judge.

[@PongGod]

Wow, that's an unbelievably bad move by the official. Fortunately, it didn't end up preventing Belgium from advancing.

[@josedelnegro46]

I have come to hate "Sports" because of what we see here. Athletics is the only thing I religiously follow because I do not have to deal with the Zebras. Now this 🦓 has his ass in the middle of the track?

[@Neofolis]

Did you see the final exchange in the final. Alexander Doom kept touching Chris Bailey's lower back and Chris Bailey kept trying to swat his hand away. None of the commentators mentioned it, so I assume this was just normal trying to throw a competitor of his game, but it wasn't something that I normally see.

[@Xero_Wolf]

I noticed this as well. It happened on two of the exchanges in that relay actually. At first I was wondering if he was trying to stop him from encroaching on his lane but Doom himself was in the athletes lane behind him. I found it really odd that the commentators said nothing of it even when it was so obvious in the replay.

[@nahadoth2087]

It was normal in the sense that in relay the people waiting for their handoff are often using their arms to keep spacing. You see it all the time. The American should be in lane 1. He was backing up so far that he was basically in lane 2. So Doom kept his hand there to keep him from backing up further and crowding him. If anything the American was at fault for trying to crowd him, and was completely overreacting to a normal practice with his frantic arm flailing in response.

[@SirThomas1212]

All the controversy in the NFL's, NBA's,track n field just want to be included in the discussion 😂

[@manacor12]

That "official" was either bribed or favors one of the other teams privately. Old men. So typical. A bunch of old men interfering and making results. How much was paid? How much is paid right now to keep the "official" walk free without facing any consequences? Sort of: "Ah, c'mon, poor grandpa, could have happened to anyone really". Nope.

[@nautje]

Watched this live and just couldn't believe what I was seeing... An official physically dragging an athlete like that into a position he didn't belong in, at this level, it's just inexcusable. Completely understood that Sacoor was absolutely livid directly afterwards. Revenge was sweet in the final with Belgium taking the gold.

[@crosslink1493]

Usually they position the outgoing runners based on their incoming teammate's position at about 200m out (maybe 150m) in an outdoor race but with the constantly updated scoreboards the outgoing runners usually sort it out pretty good themselves based on who comes off the curve 1st, 2nd, etc. Not sure where they would do the positioning based on the incoming runners on these 200m indoor tracks, does anyone know for sure?

[@amosglitterz2649]

Always been the same as outdoor. My question is do the athletes have to obey zone officials at this level? (Once placed, "Stay where you are!") Because usually the runners sort it out.

[@SashaSashima-vr9cc]

I thought the officials was trying to give the runner a hug. That track official won't be at the Olympics.

[@Juan_More_Mile]

What about the pushing from Belgium to the USA in the final?

[@bartbeek9505]

Do they call that pushing in America? We call that tapping. 😂

[@KK-rg1wz]

Pushing?..... Did the USA runner complied afterwards? Nope. But we all understand, the official was unable to give the USA an advantage, ....

[@Juan_More_Mile]

@@KK-rg1wzcal it whatever you want, pushing, touching your opponent…is it allowed? No. That’s all. Idc if it was done in the USA or any other country

[@KK-rg1wz]

@@Juan_More_Mile thanks to that push, the yank ran quicker.... he should have to thank the Belgian.... if you are running too slowly, make place for the other(s) !

[@Juan_More_Mile]

@@KK-rg1wz that made 0 sense

[@pepelopezcrecimientopersonal]

I didn´t see that, but in the final Belgium team acted awful pushing all the runners in the back of the american runners. I´m not a great fan of USA in any sport, but for me Belgium should be disqualified for this unsportsman beahviour. The american runners has to fight with the belgian runners to remove the nad in their back, and this we could see it clearly. This was a "soccer style" tactics and in my opinion this sould be removed from athletics.

[@RoadrunnerMZ]

It didn't cost a second, but it was still unacceptable. Interesting also how the Belgians in the final were pushing a lot themselves at every exchange.

[@Eppu_Paranormaali]

Dude probably heard Belgium would bring Doom if they made the final. But seriously, I think they just told him Belgium should be the sidemost team (on the other side though) and this guy mistakenly thought he should move Iguacel behind Slovakia for that to happen. Or he just misidentified the runners' order on the back stretch.

[@JaharNarishma]

Seeing the tutle and the thumbnail, I thought this was going to be about the final relay of the finals. The Belgian runner was pushing the American as they were waiting for their turn. I didn't watch any of the qualifiers so I missed this.

[@SgtCellFish]

Do you mean the American who was overreacting for the Belgium athlete that hold out his arm to keep the distance from each like always happens in relay? I bet the American runner was first timing relay.

[@BrendonChase_2015]

@@SgtCellFish Yup, that US drama queen was also practically standing so far back that the Belgium guy had to remind him to keep his distance. Then the US athlete started his act. Glad they lost.

[@marcelluscornelius2745]

There were at least 3 questionable decisions and events that were not replayed or discussed.

[@edwinvermeulen8187]

If your an official on that stage, you should be good enough at your job to realize what they tell you on the earpiece is wrong and do your job right regardless of what is told. The man should be barred as an offical for future events, regardless if his excuse is correct or not

[@richjost313]

We should all freak out about mistakes. That will improve our lives.

[@TheMarman57]

I have never seen anything like this before in athletics. Who thought this was a good idea? WTF!!!

[@57thorns]

The camera crew had the good sense to be completely still, allowing the athletes to get around them safely. The raking incident could have been a really bad accident. This one however? Foul play or not, that person does not belong on the infield of any athletics event.

[@16nowhereman]

I didn't notice this during the actual race. This official should be banned from track and field forever.

[@stephenwiesehahn2342]

if this happened to me, I would've thrown hands

[@nahadoth2087]

And been instantly disqualified. maybe forever.

[@hassanigourna]

they got the gold in the end, well deserved.

[@cedric1877]

I know Iguacel personally. I've raced him myself.

[@henkschmitz6768]

You are 100% right, of course. This was ridicolous and despicable. Ban that official from any race track for life!! That man should be placed in a retirement home, playing bingo all day...

[@waynebo248]

Let's just go ahead and say it. Something crooked was going on. Somebody powerful had some money bet against Belgium or something else crazy and nefarious. 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@TheTreehouseFamily]

Maybe it’s because Belgium was trying to push over the other teams at the hand offs? Maybe he was trying to pull them off the other the other athletes?

[@peterpesch]

In fact it is quite a difficult task, as you are supposed to put the athletes in the lane that corresponds to the position their team was half a lap ago. That's probably why he got the instructions from someone who could see that point of the track. And the athletes are not really allowed to take their position themselves. (see rule 24.3 of the Technical Rules)

[@NicolasVerschoren]

So here is what Jonathan Sacoor, the runner giving the baton during that moment, told during an interview after the race. He said that the jury questioned that the positioning was correct, to which Sacoor replied that his team-mate was correctly placed based of Sacoors position after 200m. No feedback was given after that, and based on the fact that no comments or feedback followed from the officials, it is safe to say they probably realised their error.

[@simonpoiret]

It's not only hurting the belgians but the slovakians as well. He's pushing the 2 athletes together, risking them tripping over each other.

[@darreno9874]

I'm impressed the runner didn't punch the official how was obviously acting a corrupt way.

[@ronaldwaite5074]

Is it possible that he and the official in his earpiece were confused as both kits were white?

[@AH86ac]

That’s insane.. I watched it and was confused, wtf that official just did in that baton exchange?? That man should be fired, or the one who asked him in the earpiece. Very unprofessional for the world championships level.

[@dotnetguru99]

4x400 transitions can already be chaotic enough you don't need an official making it worse!

[@ddahstan6876]

Well, after watching this, I couldn't have been more thrilled for Belgium getting the golddd!

[@CKnight1983]

Where was the official from??

[@lesmoore3638]

Yes! Unacceptable. An official screwing up? Hardly unbelievable. I'm surprised the athletes didn't self correct the positioning. The order was evident for the entire straight??

[@ThaGamingMisfit]

I had no idea what I was seeing, I watch a lot of athletics but this was so out of the ordinary that I think that man had no clue what he was doign and also had zero experience in an event like this, that's literally the only explanation. As a Belgian I panicked for a little while, asking why this was happening to us. In the end it didn't matter and it resulted in one of the sports highlights of the year for me !

[@synchronium24]

If the official had simply misordered the athletes but not interfered, I would understand. What is inexcusable is pulling the Beligan athlete even further from lane 3 up to lane 4.