U.S., Australia DQ’d in relay; Ian Crocker in 100m fly finals

FUKUOKA, Japan – A jury upheld the disqualifications of the United States and Australia in the women’s 800-meter freestyle Thursday, giving the gold medal to Britain.

Australia and the United States finished 1-2 on Wednesday night, but the Australians were disqualified for jumping too early into the pool in celebration, and the Americans were penalized for jumping the start on a change.

“We had expected to be reinstated, so it’s a bit of a surprise,” said U.S. team chief Penny Taylor, who had not officially been informed of the decision. “The girls will be really disappointed.”

After a two-hour meeting Thursday, a FINA Jury of Appeal upheld the disqualifications.

Ian Crocker of Portland qualified Wednesday advanced to Thursday’s finals of the 100-meter butterfly. He was second in his heat and fourth fastest overall with a time 52.63 seconds. Lars Frolander of Sweden was the top finisher in a course-record 52.17.

Crocker, who was fourth in the 100 fly at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, is expected to swim in the 50 fly, which begins Friday, and in Saturday’s 400 medley relay.

On Wednesday night, Australian coach Don Talbot accused the referee of bias in an in-your-face pool-deck confrontation, and demanded an appeal.

“This is a kangaroo court. Do you know what that is? It’s a farce,” Talbot told poolside referee Andriy Vlaskov.

In a statement, FINA said the Jury of Appeal decided unanimously that Australia be disqualified “due to the clear violation of the FINA Rule SW 10.11.”

“We’re disappointed – we believe that our girls, based on the fact that they swam the fastest, deserved to win the race,” said John Devitt, head of Australian Swimming.

“The appeal was based on the fact that cameramen and people behind the box encouraged our girls to jump in the pool.”

The U.S. delegation appeal said equipment failure caused a mixup, claiming a touchpad that showed Julie Hardt left the starting block before teammate Cristina Teuscher hit the wall during the second change had malfunctioned all night.

Despite the referee admitting it was too close to call, the Jury of Appeal decided that the “system worked perfectly” during the relay, “consequently, the USA team is disqualified.”

The Australians finished in a meet record of 7 minutes, 56.00 seconds. The U.S. team – Natalie Coughlin, Teuscher, Hardt and Diana Munz – appeared to set an American record of 7:56.53.

Bill Sweetenham, the Australian-born British national performance director for swimming, said the result was fair.

“We feel sorry for the Australians and Americans, but justice was served,” Sweetenham said. “We will live with this outcome, knowing that the British result was fair.”

On Sunday, the American men’s team in the 400 freestyle relay finished third but was disqualified for having used a swimmer whose name was not on the entry list. The U.S. officials took the blame for the mix-up.