India’s fastest hurdler Jyothi Yarraji ended third in the women’s 100m hurdles event but was upgraded to a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Sunday after a controversial false start which led to uncertainty about her getting disqualified. The silver medal was finally awarded to Yarraji, but not before she had to make an impassioned case for herself and the race was restarted under the cloud of uncertainty. In the restarted race, Yarraji ended with a time of 12.91 seconds.
What had led to the drama was that the race saw a false start by home favourite Yanni Wu, and India’s Yarraji appeared to be reacting to the Chinese hurdler’s cue. Officials initially told both runners that had been disqualified for false start. This led to a audible groan in the stadium, since Wu is one of the host country’s biggest stars in athletics.
Yarraji and Wu both stood their ground and protested with the officials who looked at the TV monitors alongside the track to see what had happened. Replays clearly showed that Wu was the first one to react and that Yarraji had reacted to her cue.
Both athletes were allowed to race, but there was some confusion whether they would be allowed to retain their medals in the case of them winning. Yarraji crossed the finish line behind China’s Yuwei Lin and Wu. Later, Yarraji was upgraded to silver.
“100 percent I was affected by what happened in the race. It hit me hard mentally, because I had not done too well in the heats,” Yarraji said later on before admitting she was “completely blank”.
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Legendary Indian jumper Anju Bobby George told The Indian Express in Hangzhou that the Athletics Federation of India had registered a protest asking for Wu’s disqualification.
Under what regulation was Wu Yanni disqualified? And why did Yarraji stay on podium
Yanni was disqualified for TR 16.8. The regulation states: Except in Combined Events, any athlete responsible for a false start shall be disqualified by the Starter. For Combined Events, see Rule 39.10.3 of the Technical Rules.
Note: In practice, when one or more athletes make a false start, others are inclined to follow and, strictly speaking, any athlete who does so has also made a false start. The Starter should warn or disqualify only such athlete or athletes who, in their opinion, were responsible for the false start. This may result in more than one athlete being warned or disqualified. If the false start is not due to any athlete, no warnings shall be given and a green card shall be shown to all the athletes.
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Who is Yanni Yu?
In the 100m women’s hurdles, China’s Wu Yanni was tipped as a favourite. Wu won silver in the 100m women’s hurdles in World University Games, where Yarraji had won bronze. A report in the South China Morning Post said she has been ‘dubbed as China’s goddess of track and field’.
The report went on to add that Wu had recently courted controversy in China for a tattoo on her arm. China’s General Administration of Sport, China’s equivalent of a sports ministry, has only officially banned footballers from the practice of getting tattoed. In general, minors are prohibited from getting tattoos in China.
Recently, in an interview with China’s CGTN, she spoke of her confidence and the criticism she cops sometimes.
“I’m the kind of person who is strong when I meet strong competitors. I’m not afraid of anyone. The more people talk about me, the more motivated I become on the training ground. Actually I thank them, because without their slander I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have. I know I have to prove myself through my abilities. If you care too much about what others say about you, then you lose.”
False gold for Yarraji on social media
It’s been a strange buildup to the Asian Games for Yarraji. Last week on Tuesday, social media was abuzz with celebrities like singer Asha Bhosle and former India cricketers like Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman celebrating her gold medal. Many politicians and bureaucrats, besides other verified Twitter handles, also got in on the act, celebrating the achievement of Yarraji.
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However, the celebrities had jumped the gun by a few days. Yarraji at that stage was not even in China for the Hangzhou Games.
History of unfortunate incidents
Yarraji has had a string of unfortunate incidents in the past, most beyond her control. More than once she has been denied a national record, once due to the absence of dope control officers being there in the past and once because the tail wind during her race was over permissible limits.
In August this year, Yarraji had endured heartbreak at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest after clocking 13.05s in the women’s 100m hurdles to finish 29th overall. In fact, she had finished seventh in her heat!
