Why swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified from the Paris Olympics

American swimmer Alex Walsh, who appeared to be on track to win the women’s 200m individual medley but finished third, was disqualified.

Walsh led until the last 25 m of the final freestyle lap, but was overtaken at the wall by Canadian Summer McIntosh and her teammate Kate Douglass.

But Walsh, who won silver in the Tokyo event, was disqualified for an inappropriate turn from backstroke to breaststroke, according to USA Swimming. The transition is complicated and has been the subject of much debate among swimming officials. According to the international swimming federation FINA, the same rules for each stroke apply in a medley race, and for the backstroke “the swimmer must touch the wall while on his back.” In the individual medley, this has to happen before the swimmer moves on to the next stroke, which is the breaststroke which is swum face down. On Saturday, when Walsh touched the wall to finish the back leg, his belly hit the bottom of the pool, resulting in the disqualification.

See more information: ‘Tough day at the office.’ Caeleb Dressel starts crying after disappointing swim

There are several ways swimmers choose to transition from backstroke to breaststroke – touching the wall while still on their back and then pulling their knees up to their chest to push off the wall while facedown; go deeper and do a backflip like a gymnast and flip onto your stomach; and the final and riskiest option, known as the cross curve. The crossing can be done in two ways: in the first, the swimmer touches the wall sideways, after the last stroke on the back, but being careful not to turn beyond 90 degrees. With this option, the swimmer touches the wall, leaving the arm extended and turning to face down, maintaining contact with the wall, for the breaststroke. In the second version, the swimmer turns to the side, stretching out his hand to push the wall behind him, remaining mainly on his back and without turning more than 90 degrees, which would result in disqualification. Then, the swimmer pulls their forehead to their knees to turn and face the direction they came from to begin the breaststroke.

Walsh’s younger sister, Gretchen, is also competing in the Paris Games. She won gold in the 4x100m mixed medley relay and silver in the 100m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle relay.