For those who watched the 200m finals, you would see two other athletes celebrating their own victories with Usain Bolt. However, both of them were disqualified for stepping out of their lanes.
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Martina, Spearmon disqualified
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BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles and Wallace Spearmon of the United States were disqualified after finishing second and third in the Olympic 200 metres final on Wednesday.
Spearmon was the first to be ruled out and Martina followed him, both for stepping out of their lanes on the turn as they chased eventual winner Usain Bolt.
The decisions moved defending champion Shawn Crawford of the U.S. from fourth to second and compatriot Walter Dix took third to match his bronze in the 100m final.
"It feels kind of weird, it feels like a charity case," Crawford told reporters. "It's horrible, it is heart-breaking and I feel his (Spearmon's) pain right now. I hope Usain (Bolt) stepped out too because... that's a gold medal for me."
Spearmon was clearly unhappy.
"It's got to be three steps," he said.
Jamaica's Bolt won the event in world record time of 19.30 seconds, bettering Michael Johnson's 12-year-old mark.
After the disqualifications, Bolt's margin of victory increased to over half of a second, an almost unheard of figure in sprinting events.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
Read the full story:
Martina, Spearmon disqualified
<!-- end article-header -->
- <LI class=publication>Reuters
- Wednesday August 20 2008
BEIJING, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles and Wallace Spearmon of the United States were disqualified after finishing second and third in the Olympic 200 metres final on Wednesday.
Spearmon was the first to be ruled out and Martina followed him, both for stepping out of their lanes on the turn as they chased eventual winner Usain Bolt.
The decisions moved defending champion Shawn Crawford of the U.S. from fourth to second and compatriot Walter Dix took third to match his bronze in the 100m final.
"It feels kind of weird, it feels like a charity case," Crawford told reporters. "It's horrible, it is heart-breaking and I feel his (Spearmon's) pain right now. I hope Usain (Bolt) stepped out too because... that's a gold medal for me."
Spearmon was clearly unhappy.
"It's got to be three steps," he said.
Jamaica's Bolt won the event in world record time of 19.30 seconds, bettering Michael Johnson's 12-year-old mark.
After the disqualifications, Bolt's margin of victory increased to over half of a second, an almost unheard of figure in sprinting events.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)