In the aftermath of the women’s 3,000 meters, where there was a collision in the last 300 meters between Jordan Hasay and Gabe Grunewald, Alberto Salazar, Hasay’s coach, has filed a protest, per Grunewald’s coach, Dennis Barker.
Barker: Salazar Files Protest Against Grunewald
by Jon Gugala
Dennis Barker, coach of Team USA Minnesota and 2014 USA Indoors 3000-meters champion Gabe Grunewald, says Alberto Salazar has filed of protest with USATF regarding contact between Grunewald and Nike Oregon Project’s Jordan Hasay in the last lap of the race.
“[Grunewald’s] still going up against [Nike, Salazar, and Hasay] right now,” he says.
Barker says he was in the corner where the contact occurred and saw Hasay step on the rail that led to the stumble.
He says that the USATF committee has denied Salazar’s protest, and that Nike subsequently appealed the committee’s decision. A USATF jury upheld decision of committee, and Nike is now appealing the appeal.
“Once the jury upheld the decision, [USATF] released the results. They told us everything was over, and we were about ready to head out,” Barker says. “Now it seems like the Nike guys are hovering around, trying to keep the committee there.”
The coach says that Grunewald is handling this situation “as to be expected,” but that, “contact happens, and there was a lot of contact from not only those two, but with other people. That doesn’t mean a foul.”
I watched this live, and then again on tape. Grunewald ran right through Hasay and I thought it was blatant the second I saw it live. It killed Hasay’s chances, definitely cost her 3rd place. No one is ever DQ’d for this on the track, we’ve all seen much worse but Barker is lying about the incident, which kills his credibility.
Jon, you wrote that Barker
> and saw Hasay step on the rail that led to the stumble.
That did NOT happen. You can see every step Hasay makes on HD TV and she never got near the rail. Hasay’s style seems to be to run on a line.
If he saw this then he needs to review the tape to understand the weakness of eyewitness testimony. If USATF is looking at the tape (are they?) then the coach should, too.
I could not tell if Gabe also ran over Rowbury, think she stopped just in time. If she did it twice she would be out, that’s my guess. Even the announcer commented on how she almost hit Rowbury. Then she cut in early on Rowbury, but again we know that will NEVER be called.
Simple solution, free advice from me for Gabe. If you are that FAST at the end, just stay in Lane 2. Easy win, no fuss at all, no chance at DQ. When you are 20% faster than someone else, you can’t use the same lane. That’s why they have lanes!
I don’t expect a DQ but it is worrisome that the incident cost Hasay to lose a podium spot to Gabe’s Brooks teammate. I don’t think Vaughn catches Hasay if she hadn’t lost that momentum and time after being tripped. That could be an issue for Salazar. Is there room for a compromise?