Posted on 06/03/2025 3:09:05 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
A California high school track star’s post-race celebration that paid homage to an Olympic gold medalist resulted in her disqualification and the stripping of her state championship title by outraged officials.
North Salinas High School sophomore Clara Adams had just crossed the finish line as the winner in the 400 meters at Buchanan High in Clovis on Saturday when the excited teen ran over to her father to celebrate, the Mercury News reported.
Her proud father, David, handed his daughter a fire extinguisher, and away from her competitors, she sprayed on her shoes as if they were on fire.
However, the moment was quickly extinguished by California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) officials, who viewed Adams’ actions as unsportsmanlike and disqualified her.
“I don’t know what’s going through my mind right now,” Adams told the Mercury News.
“I’m disappointed and I feel robbed. I am in shock. They (officials) yelled at me and told me, ‘We’re not letting you on the podium.’ They took my moment away from me.”
That decision was handed down minutes before the young track star was about to run the 200 meters, but because she was disqualified for what was ruled an unsportsmanlike act, Adams was not allowed to run the race where she was one of the favorites to win.
Her father, who is also her sprinting coach, is adamant that his daughter did nothing wrong, and when she celebrated, she wasn’t near any of her competitors in the 400m sprint......
According to CIF’s code of conduct, athletes are expected to “be a good sport, teach and model class, be gracious in victory and accept defeat with dignity; encourage student-athletes to give fallen opponents a hand, compliment extraordinary performance, and show sincere respect in pre- and post-game rituals.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I'm also surprised that real reason for her disqualification, racism, was not in the article. / sarc
I'm sure that omission will be corrected soon.
She wasn’t taunting anybody. Was it excessive? Sure, but it wasn’t harmful. They should’ve just told the girl and her dad to please showboat a little less and let it go at that.
Remember, only you can put out running shoes fires. C'mon California Interscholastic Federation officials, stay classy.
If the rules were in place already, then it was her obligation to comply. It is all part of job of being disciplined.
Seems like an overreaction, but her dad is a sports coach himself, and should have known how their private celebration would be judged. A+, for that schoolgirl who was inspired by her dad to participate, train and win.
.That part was nice to read about.
Here’s the real shocker…she’s black and actually has a Dad!! A Dad that’s home with her! Who goes to her track meets!
Yes, the kid is probably old enough to know better, but if your dad and your coach are behind it, there's not just a sense of, "it's ok to do it," but possibly even, "you better do it."
I reread it. She didn’t showboat on the field of play, but in her little corner. I think the school was wrong on this.
> If the rules were in place already, then it was her obligation to comply. <
Right. If you let this one go, then there’s pressure to let the next one go. I can just here it now:
“You let her celebrate with a fire extinguisher. Why can’t my daughter celebrate by yelling and dancing a little?”
I don’t see what she did as being unsportsmanlike.
She shattered a record. I thought the display was cute as can be.
Got it.
> She didn’t showboat on the field of play, but in her little corner. <
Could the defeated runners see it? If so, she was wrong.
It's different when your teammates do it. She sprayed her own feet.
Is Track getting like football? Idiotic celebrations/taunting after EVERY play? Her shoes were on fire? Moronic.
Mmmm...guessing the celebration was videoed in order to make it go viral to make some money.
I have fire extinguishers. And I think everyone should carry one everywhere they go.
Tell the officiating Karens to get over themselves. I don’t see how her actions showed disrespect to anyone. what she did is funny and I would have had a chuckle seeing that in person as I applauded her victory.
Could it be interpreted as “showboating”? Of course. But when something is clearly ambiguous regarding how close it is to “the line” it should be let go. At most, one of the Karens could have discreetly asked them to tone it down.
OTOH, the unrecoverable penalty those jack-asses imposed by taking her victory and her next race is clearly way over the line.
IMO, they need to reinstate her victory and issue a formal public apology.
She should be disciplined for having such a staged dumb-ass minstrel show.
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