I felt bad for Wallace Spearmon (left) when his teammate (not pictured) protested his race, which cost him the bronze medal (Netherlands Antilles was sadly disqualified as well via the same protest). He ran well, but his teammate contended his foot had touched the line and as a result got him disqualified. Still, it's not like it effected how fast they were running. Spearmon ran third, but I guess rules are rules. link

This week, Netherlands Antilles filed the appropriate paperwork to appeal the disqualification of their runner, Churandy Martina.

When asked whether or not she would speak to President Bush about what transpired, the general secretary of the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee, Imro Van Wilgen, declined.

When I read that I laughed to myself and thought, Bush would just bomb Iraq Netherlands Antilles and take the oil medal anyway. Just kidding.

Wallace Spearmon (USA) and Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) should not have been disqualified, when other runners that did the same got to keep their medals anyway (Michelle Perry of the U.S.).

I think Walter Dix (USA) had the best attitude about the bronze medal he was given by disqualification. He acknowledged that he lost the race anyway, so it wasn't much consolation. At least you're honest.

However, Shawn Crawford was ungracious. Not only did he get his teammate Spearmon disqualified, and Netherlands Antille's Churandy Martina as well, he said he was hoping Bolt (Jamaica), who did not step on the line, would get disqualified as well, so he could move from 4th place to 1st place for the gold medal. That's three people he wanted disqualified (see below).

If that's how you plan on winning races, you need to elevate your game, because that's very unsportsmanlike and not what the Olympics are about.

Netherlands Antilles protest Martina’s disqualification

However, the Netherland Antilles is fighting back with officials from the Caribbean nation requesting the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to restore Martina as the second place finisher.

They claim the protest against Martina was filed beyond the 30 minute deadline set by world governing body, the IAAF and that their review of the race does not show he had ran outside of his lane.

American Michelle Perry was allowed to keep her medal at the 2007 world championships in Osaka Japan, even though she had stepped outside of here lane, on the basis of the appeal against being filed after the 30 minute deadline.

http://www.radiojamaica.com

200m second and third disqualified

The decisions moved defending champion Shawn Crawford of the US from fourth to second and compatriot Walter Dix took third to match his bronze in the 100m final.

"It feels kind of weird, it feels like a charity case," Crawford told reporters. "It's horrible, it is heart-breaking and I feel his (Spearmon's) pain right now. I hope Usain (Bolt) stepped out too because... that's a gold medal for me." Spearmon was clearly unhappy. "It's got to be three steps," he said.

Jamaica's Bolt won the event in world record time of 19.30 seconds, bettering Michael Johnson's 12-year-old mark. After the disqualifications, Bolt's margin of victory increased to over half of a second, an almost unheard of figure in sprinting events.

http://tvnz.co.nz

Medal meddling: Tiny island's big hurt

BEIJING - Here's how the Olympic tally sheet for the United States read Thursday afternoon: 27 gold medals, 83 overall medals, 140,000 new enemies.

The entire populace of the tiny Caribbean island of Netherlands Antilles apparently is angry with America. They think we're tattletales who cost them their one chance for a medal at these Summer Olympics.

"I didn't get any sleep," said Imro Van Wilgen, general secretary of the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee (NAOC), during a news conference yesterday. "My phone rang all night."

The reason for the island's ire and Van Wilgen's phone calls was the postrace disqualification of Churandy Martina on Wednesday for stepping into an adjacent lane…

The fact that two other Americans - Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix - were moved up into the two vacated medal positions added to the suspicion in the Netherlands Antilles.

"Will you call the White House and talk of this with Mr. Bush?" a Netherlands Antilles journalist asked Omayra Leefland, the nation's minister of sport, who indicated that, no, she would not.

Leefland must have calmed down from the previous night, when she charged that the Americans had violated the Olympic spirit.

"A small country like ours, we did not come here as victims," she said then. "I think it's a pity for a big country like the United States to make such a small statement."

"I have white spikes," he said. "They can't see [if he stepped on or over a white line]. I don't understand it. If I stood on the line, then why did the jury not disqualify me at the same time as Spearmon? It was at least 90 minutes before they told me I was disqualified."

http://www.philly.com