NEED TO KNOW
- Clara Adams received the 400-meter closing on the California state championships however was disqualified and stripped of her medal as a result of her celebration
- The athlete sprayed her sneakers with a fireplace extinguisher
- The celebratory transfer was an homage to a former Olympian who as soon as did the identical factor after a win
A California highschool athlete was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal after she celebrated on the observe with a fireplace extinguisher.
Clara Adams, a sophomore sprinter from North Salinas Excessive Faculty, misplaced her state championship title within the 400-meter closing on Saturday, Could 31 after she sprayed her sneakers with the machine, in accordance with KSBW-TV.
“I labored so laborious for that title,” Adams, 16, advised the station of the race, during which she completed first in 53.24 seconds.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) deemed her celebration “unsportsmanlike” and he or she acquired a DQ — all of which doesn’t sit properly with Adams, her father and the person to whom she was paying homage, retired Olympic racing legend Maurice Greene.
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Greene, 50, famously extinguished his personal “smoking sizzling” spikes on the observe after he received the 100-meter sprint in 2004.
“After I heard it occurred, after which folks simply began calling me, ‘This lady who simply ran the 400 did your celebration,’ I used to be like huh? What?” Greene advised the station. “If it was away from everybody and never interfering with anybody, I’d say reinstate her.”
The athlete’s father, who additionally serves as her coach, David Adams, is equally pushing again on the extent of Clara’s punishment.
“When she blew the hearth extinguisher, the opponents have been gone,” he advised KSBW. “That was our second of celebration, and CIF officers made it about them. The group went loopy, they liked it, the CIF sales space went loopy, they liked it. However these few guys in these jackets took offense to it, did not prefer it, and decided based mostly off feelings.”
In footage from the race, David Adams is seen handing his daughter the extinguisher. The information station reported that he then climbed over the railing — which can also be towards the foundations — to handle CIF officers.
“I noticed an official seize my daughter by the arm, they have been yelling in her face,” Adams stated. “I’m a father now, I’m not coach any extra.”
In line with the station, within the final 20 years of state championships, no different athletes have been disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.