Protests a ‘downer’ for golden boy Walsh
Kiwi world shot put champion Tom Walsh concedes ongoing protest dramas in the wake of his London victory have taken some of the gloss off the historic achievement.
Walsh received his athletics world championships gold medal at a ceremony at London’s Olympic Stadium yesterday but only after a second protest from sixthplaced American Olympic champion Ryan Crouser was thrown out just minutes before the ceremony.
Walsh, who also had to survive a protest from silver medallist Joe Kovacs after winning the final with a throw of 22.03 metres, said he only found out that placings were going to stand minutes before heading out to receive his medal in front of another massive crowd at the Olympic venue.
‘‘It was literally just as we were standing out there almost going to the podium, we heard from [coach] Dale [Stevenson] that everything was going to stay the way it was,’’ Walsh told media in London after receiving his gold medal.
The Kiwi, who added the world championships title to his world indoors and Diamond League crowns, said he felt the protest situation in the wake of the competition had been handled poorly.
‘‘I don’t think it’s been handled in the right way,’’ he added.
‘‘It’s a little bit of a shame and it kind of brought a bit of a downer to the guys in the medal ceremony room not knowing exactly what the story was.
‘‘We had Stipe [bronze medallist Stipe Zunic of Croatia] there with his first ever medal at a major champs sitting in third place and he would have lost that if the protest went through.
‘‘It was a weird feeling in the medal ceremony. Usually it’s quite happy and jovial and today it was a little bit nervous.
‘‘The re-protest was thrown out just before the medal ceremony which left us quite nervous in the medal room and the boys didn’t know what to think as one guy would have gone from first to second and the last guy goes from third to fourth and doesn’t get a medal.’’ Both Kovacs and Crouser protested over decisions by competition judges to foul their attempts.
Kovacs was ropeable that a sixth-round throw that he had measured at 22.08m, and would have snatched the gold, was redflagged for an infringement on the board in the circle. He remonstrated with officials at the time, and protested immediately after the event. It was thrown out. Crouser, who finished a disappointing sixth and was well off his 2017 form with a best toss of 21.20m, had also protested a fouled third-round no-throw that went out around the 22m mark.
Reports in the aftermath of the final were that it had been rejected, but fresh footage resulted in a further review just prior to the medal ceremony yesterday. It was also rejected. Walsh also confirmed that his groin injury, suffered just a day out from the qualifying competition and which forced him to compete through the pain barrier, had flared up a little in the aftermath of his historic world title – the first by a Kiwi male at the world championship level.
He admitted it now put the rest of his season under somewhat of a cloud.
‘‘The groin is definitely sorer than what I thought it would be. We’re going to get an MRI on it tomorrow and see what the story is,’’ he said.
‘‘It could [impact the rest of the season]. Obviously the big one is the end-of-season Brussels Diamond League, that’s the final and the one I want to be ready for. If I don’t compete until then, that’s OK.’’
Great guy P19