Bahamian athlete, Shaunae Miller leaped from her feet on the final Women’s 400 Meters Monday night which caused some controversy.
Some believe it was not an ethical move in the race that should’ve gone to decorated American Olympian, Allyson Felix.
Miller leaped in the final yards of the race beating Felix by 0.07 seconds, basically her hand went over before Felix’s feet.
The move that led to a photo finish appeared to be legal. The rules state: “The first athlete whose worse…reaches the vertical plane of closest edge of the finish line is the winner.”
Of course, social media felt differently.
So Shaunae Miller won a gold for the new event of land diving, apparently.
Allyson Felix won a gold for running the 400m, in my opinion.
_
— Strahan Cadell (@Sartor1836) August 16, 2016
Allyson Felix got robbed, if you wanna dive do it in the pool
— Lesean Johnson ⚓️ (@LeseanJohnson) August 16, 2016
Wait seriously you’re allowed to dive rather than running thru the line? Allyson Felix got robbed.
via @NBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/Xp0U1S3KLb
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 16, 2016
OMG. What a way to win. Shaunae Miller, having given 100%, falls across the line to deny the legendary Allyson Felix pic.twitter.com/eVJKUKUYVv
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) August 16, 2016
Next on the track at #Rio2016: aquaplaning! 🌊 pic.twitter.com/CLygAXqDAH
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) August 15, 2016
some praise also:
Shaunae Miller with that sweet Bahamian dive over the finish line! Allyson Felix (aka Nkiruka from the village) denied the gold.
— Bim Adewunmi (@bimadew) August 16, 2016
Felix didn’t say anything about the controversial dive when the media spoke to her, only that she was disappointed with her loss.
“Tonight, the goal was to win and I fell short at that,” Felix said. “It hurts right now and I just have to get through this moment.”
It may not be gold she was hoping for, but Felix’s silver takes her up to four Olympic medals in total since 2004 — including four golds. That puts her past Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s record and makes her the most decorated U.S. female track athlete of all time.
