The Ukrainian athlete is once again in the spotlight.
The embers have not yet died down after the scandal with the performance of the fencer Olga Harlan in the last World Cup in Milan, since in another World Cup -athletics in Budapest- Marina Bekh-Romanchuk is outraged.
Harlan, despite the absurdity of the situation, was unexpectedly given unprecedented privileges. Maybe Bekh-Romanchuk was also counting on it?
True, no one gave him anything.
“It’s nothing normal”
The 2019 World Championships silver medalist in the long jump, Marina Bekh-Romanchuk, failed to reach the final of the competition at the 2023 World Championships. On the second attempt, in qualifying, she had a shovel fixed by an electronic system .
After seeing her jump repeatedly, Bekh-Romanchuk addressed the judges for the competition. The athlete tried to prove that there was no red flag at all. Some spectators in the stands felt the same. But the referees were adamant: if the watchful eye of the electronic results system set a pike, the result could not be counted.
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“Everyone in the stands was outraged because there was no pike. I also told the judge, I went up to him and told him that I was in shock. This is generally not normal, inappropriate, but now everything is based on electronics,” Bekh-Romanchuk said.
It happened more than once that an athlete had a valid attempt, but the result was taken away. Or, on the contrary, when there was an obvious intercession, and the athlete was released, because the electronics considered that everything was fine.
This is a very contradictory system, but unfortunately we won’t do anything with it, it’s new rules and we have to put up with it.”
Marina Bekh-Romanchuk
Photo: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
“I would be in the final”
Perhaps Bekh-Romanchuk expected leniency and understanding. But, according to the rules, the human factor is no longer taken into account.
In theory, the situation could be somehow corrected with an official protest, but the athlete did not even hope to change the result.
“In general, it does not depend on any human factor. I would be in the final, but there is no point in talking about it. Protest? Forget drinking water. They will not let it go, I went through everything, they will not let it go in any case.
There was an identical attempt in Serbia, and they just said, no matter what they tried to do, no matter what they said, and it was covered everywhere on the social network, and many accounts were reposted, in fact, no one. she agreed to this, but she said to herself: the system She said no, that means no, that’s all.
In general, there are problems with electronics in the World Cup:
Team broke down at World Cup 2023, sprinters couldn’t start for 10 minutes
“There’s no point in arguing”
The athlete’s coach Alexei Serdyuchenko explained why, despite the verdict of the electronic system, it was decided to file a protest.
“There are millimeter gaps. It was seen that there is a moment of intersection of the projection of the plank, where the blade is considered. But then the spiked leg moves from side to side, and by the time it separated from the bar, it was already in the correct position. We try to hold onto that, we file a protest, we talk to the judges, we focus on the fact that there are two different phases of revulsion here. But unfortunately, our arguments were not taken into account.
From the point of view of the rules themselves, there is no point in arguing with the judges, because they, for their part, are right,” the mentor concluded.
At the same time, the coach is sure that Bekh-Romanchuk, if he wishes, could enter the final as the thirteenth participant, fixing the result in a controversial attempt.
The Ukrainian athlete also has a triple jump tournament in reserve. Qualifying will take place here on August 23. Note that in this discipline Bekh-Romanchuk is the champion of Europe 2022. But she will have to push with a margin so that history with electronics does not repeat itself.
Nostalgia for mighty Russian athletics:
How cool was our athletics 10 years ago! tears flow
