halco87 said:
Watch at the 50 turn for Eastin, right after she flips white water kicks up and you can see her feet kick up. It's impossible for the water to kick up that close to the wall after the turn unless she immediately kicks on her back. Doesn't happen for anyone else in the race.
Now, I think the Lochte rule is nonsense. There are freestylers kicking off the wall on their backs in freestyle races, so if you can do it there you should be able to do it anytime you're making a freestyle turn. This just highlights the nonsense of calling it at all because it's so ridiculously subjective.
I agree water kicks up. I agree it would seem impossible to kick up water that closely to the wall. However, she is pretty deep in the water, which makes it difficult to see her shoulders. I agree with you, she is likely kicking up, towards her back. I just can't see her shoulders or distinguish her position.
Her suit is different than the ladies in lane 5 & 6. Their suit shows more back/side. When they turn, you can see where the suit and back change colors, which makes it easy to see their position. Which is definitely on their breast. Lane 5, she almost splashes out of the water and is clearly on her breast. Lane 6, not as dramatic, but similar.
I actually slowed it down. I think the best indicator is the suit and the back, just under the arms. Using that, her 25 and 75 are close, but on the 50, even though she is deep, you can see the transition/rotation of her right shoulder. You don't see that rotation until well after she has left the wall. Her final breast position is consistently later than Lane 5 & 6, which would indicate the splash at the 75 would have to be from her back.
On the 25 and 75, her turns would indicate the Official is likely using a standard that by the flags, she must be on her breast. That would seem a reasonable expectation. For the turn, you would be on your back when your feet hit the wall. That would require your hips to be towards the back, and unless you are gumby, your shoulders as well. You can drop one foot lower on the wall, to start your rotation, which is what Lane 5 & 6 appear to do, which is why you can clearly see their skin on the side with the suit showing they are on their breast. Eastin's feet don't appear to do the same, or she would be further in her rotation on the 25 and 75.
One last point... the MR was on Thurs and the IM was on Friday. There is a strong likelihood, that a discussion was raised about the DQ during the Friday "Officials Meeting," however, it appears equal application was not applied.
What makes it more suspect is, at that level meet, you should not have such a discrepency. The S&T Judge, CJ and Deck Ref all 3 would have to accept the call. I think I misstated Meet Ref above. With the meet in Austin and it being A&M... it is very disappointing.
