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Malaysian accused of cheating in SEA Games walk gold
  • | dtinews.vn, Danviet | August 25, 2017 08:46 AM
Athlete Elena Gohling Yin from the SEA Games 29 host country Malaysia defeated Vietnamese competitor Phan Thi Bich Ha to win the gold medal at the women's 10,000m walk race. However, some have said the Malaysian won unfairly.

According to the regulations of walk races, athletes’ two feet are not allowed to leave the ground at the same time, if not, they will be given with a yellow card. When they violate this for the third time, they will be banned from the race.

   

The Malaysian athlete Elena Gohling Yin No. 516 defeated Vietnamese competitor Phan Thi Bich Ha to win the gold medal


However, right at the first rounds of the walk race at the on-going SEA Games 29, Elena violated this regulation while qualifying for the final round without being reminded or fined by referees.

At the final round held at the Malaysian National Stadium on August 23, Elena competed with Vietnamese athlete Phan Thi Bich Ha who continuously led at the fourth circuit before the final round. Ha was expected to earn the gold medal.

During the competition with Ha, Elena almost began to run and passed the finish line, becoming the winner. Ha earned won silver.

Walking Queen Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc faced the same case as Ha in the 27th Sea Games held in Myanmar when the host country’s rival also ran and then became the winner.

Phuc commented that the Malaysian athlete had violated the walking regulations as she almost ran during the race.

According to Duong Duc Thuy, Head of the Athletics Department of the General Department of Sports, who is now in Malaysia, based on the walking regulations, referees can not use any other technical equipment to define violations.

In this case, it is infeasible for Vietnam to sue the Malaysian athlete for the violation, Thuy said, explaining that the 10,000m walking race means ten thousand steps. But can we can use tens of thousands of photos to prove the Malaysian athlete’s mistakes?

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