Kaylee McKeown caught in fresh Olympics furore as video appears to show second rival's illegal act
Vision of the controversial women's 200m individual medley shows both US competitors could have been disqualified.
Kaylee McKeown may have felt fortunate to add to her Olympic Games medal tally after the controversial disqualification of American rival Alex Walsh saw her awarded bronze. But new vision has since emerged that shows she should have in fact been awarded silver.
On night eight McKeown won bronze despite touching fourth in the women's 200m individual medley final behind Canadian Summer McIntosh. But she was promptly promoted to third after USA's Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn. However, vision has since circulated online that shows her US teammate and training partner Kate Douglass also turned incorrectly and therefore should have also been disqualified thus elevating McKeown to a silver medal.
In a similar way to that of Walsh, Douglass didn't correctly complete the backstroke leg, turning over onto her stomach before she touched the wall and if anything, one could argue it was more blatant than in the case of her disqualified teammate.
FINA rules state that for the backstroke leg "the swimmer must touch the wall while on the back". It is the same rule that saw McKeown disqualified at the world swimming championships last year. In that instance, McKeown was found to have rotated fully onto her side too early during the end of the backstroke leg.
And due to that McKeown would have every right to feel hard done by after Douglass avoided disqualification. And frustratingly for her there is no avenue to appeal the result as footage can't be used to overturn results once the all clear is given after the race.
It is also not the first time video footage has shown an Aussie athlete was incorrectly denied a medal. Breaststroker Christian Sprenger was infamously denied gold in the 100m breaststroke in London after an underwater video showed South African Cameron van der Burgh doing three butterfly kicks when the rule only allowed one.
Australia finish with third-best Olympic swimming campaign
Unheralded Meg Harris claimed a stunning silver medal in the women's 50m freestyle at the La Defense Arena on Sunday night and Australia's women's 4x100m medley relay team - McKeown, Emma McKeon, Mollie O'Callaghan and Jenna Strauch - snared a silver in the last event of the meet to put the finishing touches on a great Aussie team effort in Paris. In total the Australian swim team netted seven gold, eight silver and three bronze in the Paris pool.
Measured by gold it's the nation's third-best haul at an Olympic pool behind the nine golds in Tokyo three years ago and eight golds at the 1956 Melbourne Games. And even by overall total, the Dolphins' 18 medals is also Australia's equal third-best return.
Australia's nation's swim team won 21 medals overall in Tokyo, 20 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also 18 at the Sydney 2000 Games. In Paris, the United States ended up at the head of the swimming medal table - a position they have held since 1992 - with eight golds, 13 silver and seven bronze. Australia's Dolphins were next-best followed by France, whose face of the Games, Leon Marchand, featured in all four of their gold medals.
with AAP
