Canadian rowers distraught over disqualification

[Andem]

Julie Scott
Canadian Press


Wednesday, August 18, 2004

SCHINIAS, Greece

Dave Calder was left wondering if all he'd given up to get to the Olympics was worth it.

Calder, a native of Victoria, and Chris Jarvis of St. Catharines, Ont., were disqualified from the men's pairs Olympic rowing semifinal Wednesday for leaving their lane just before the finish line.

Calder and Jarvis led for about 1,500 metres of the 2,000-metre race before they were caught by the Germans and South Africans. A few metres from the finish, Calder and Jarvis moved toward the South African duo of Donovan Cech and Ramon di Clemente. According to FISA, the world governing body for rowing, Calder's oar was a metre over the line of buoys that separate the lanes.

"To get to this level, I have made countless sacrifices," said the 26-year-old Calder. "I have spent years, rowing thousands of kilometres for this week of competition. I have put my life on hold only to have all these efforts destroyed by this decision.

http://www.canada.com/sports/insideathens/story.html?id=1a05decf-4b29-49e3-a050-02ab6b2da011

 

[Andem]

I watched this game, and wasn't sure who was in the wrong when they approached the finish line.

It was the fault of the Canadians who were ready to grab 1st or 2nd place. They were leading the whole race but in the end, apparantly their ores slashed the SA's.

Do you think it's fair to DQ them from the finals? They would have thrown SA out of it in any event.

 

[bevvyd]

I certainly understand their being distraught. Unfortunately S**t happens and lets face it, if another team had interferred in their waters a disqualification would have happened too. But these types of things happen in other sporting events too. Unfortunately but true.

 

[bevvyd]

I'd love to say that the rules should be just like any old competition but the Olympics have thier own set of rules and regulations which differ from alot of the competitions.

But for the record, I feel they should have been disqualified from that particular event.

 

[Chewy]

I am a little disappointed by how they are handling the situation, I expected them to behave a little more Canadian. Appealing is fine but protesting the next set makes them look like poor sports.

 

[10000M Man]

The Canadian Rowers are a bunch of Cry Babies. First , they accuse Canada's track athletes of complaining about the high qualifying standards. Now , after crashing into the South African crew they want a special circumstance to allow entry into the finals. If these , under achieving rowers were really top 12 in the world as they say, they should have eased into the finals with now problem.

 

[Andem]

10000M Man, that's the point. They were disqualified from the finals and that's what the fuss is all about. They were ready to jump into the finals but alas, they were DQ's for slashing the SA's ore (sp?).

 

[Diamond Sun]

I thought they were very Canadian in dealing with it. I saw an interviewer with one of the rowers, and after he watched the CBC tape of it, he agreed that they were in the SA lane and that in all rights they should be disqualified.
I even commented to my husband that that was a guy who showed true Canadianism, the ability to admit an error.