American Olympic Swimmer Alex Walsh Disqualified in Her Only Olympic Event after Illegal Violation
American Olympic swimmer Alex Walsh suffered heartbreak after being disqualified and having her bronze medal taken away in Paris.
Walsh competed in the Women's 200m Individual Medley Final on Saturday night and looked to have secured a place on the podium.
17-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh took another gold, with Kate Douglass from the United States coming in second.
Walsh looked to be the second representative from the US in the top three but a video review uncovered that she had committed an illegal turn at the halfway point.
Walsh was therefore disqualified following the back-to-breast violation and the bronze medal went to Australian Kaylee McKeown, who had initially finished in fourth.
The University of Virginia graduate is known for his versatility when it comes to strokes and won silver in the medley event in Tokyo back in 2021, as well as picking up three golds in the 2023 World Championships.
But it was a very different feeling that she experienced this time around and plenty of fans had sympathy for her following the unfortunate disqualification.
One wrote: "Alex Walsh DQ’ed for a back-breast turn violation in her only event in the Olympics. Heartbreaking."
Another said: "That’s heartbreaking for Alex Walsh."
A third added: "Damnnnnn Alex Walsh I feel so bad for her but girl why would you roll over???!".
A fourth commented: "I feel so bad for Alex Walsh. That was her only chance for an indie medal too."
A fifth posted: "Man I feel awful for Alex Walsh. Put in all that work and time just to be disqualified right at the end."
Walsh looked utterly gutted as she learned of the disqualification, with her teammate attempting to console her.
She will now face a long wait until she can achieve redemption at the Olympics, with the next showpiece taking place on home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.
There was reason to celebrate for the Walsh family, however, as younger sibling Gretchen was part of a world-record-achieving gold medal triumph in the mixed 4x100m relay.
Walsh competed in the Women's 200m Individual Medley Final on Saturday night and looked to have secured a place on the podium.
17-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh took another gold, with Kate Douglass from the United States coming in second.
Walsh looked to be the second representative from the US in the top three but a video review uncovered that she had committed an illegal turn at the halfway point.
Walsh was therefore disqualified following the back-to-breast violation and the bronze medal went to Australian Kaylee McKeown, who had initially finished in fourth.
The University of Virginia graduate is known for his versatility when it comes to strokes and won silver in the medley event in Tokyo back in 2021, as well as picking up three golds in the 2023 World Championships.
But it was a very different feeling that she experienced this time around and plenty of fans had sympathy for her following the unfortunate disqualification.
One wrote: "Alex Walsh DQ’ed for a back-breast turn violation in her only event in the Olympics. Heartbreaking."
Another said: "That’s heartbreaking for Alex Walsh."
A third added: "Damnnnnn Alex Walsh I feel so bad for her but girl why would you roll over???!".
A fourth commented: "I feel so bad for Alex Walsh. That was her only chance for an indie medal too."
A fifth posted: "Man I feel awful for Alex Walsh. Put in all that work and time just to be disqualified right at the end."
Walsh looked utterly gutted as she learned of the disqualification, with her teammate attempting to console her.
She will now face a long wait until she can achieve redemption at the Olympics, with the next showpiece taking place on home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.
There was reason to celebrate for the Walsh family, however, as younger sibling Gretchen was part of a world-record-achieving gold medal triumph in the mixed 4x100m relay.
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00:00American Olympic swimmer Alex Walsh suffered heartbreak after being disqualified in having
00:11her bronze medal taken away in Paris. Walsh competed in the women's 200-meter individual
00:17medley final on Saturday night and looked to have secured a place on the podium.
00:2217-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh took another gold,
00:26with Kate Douglas from the United States coming in second.
00:30Walsh looked to be the second representative from the US in the top three but a video
00:34review uncovered that she had committed an illegal turn at the halfway point.
00:38Walsh was therefore disqualified following the back-to-breast violation and the bronze
00:42medal went to Australian Kayleigh McEwan, who had initially finished in fourth.
00:47Put in all that work and time just to be disqualified right at the end.
00:52Walsh looked utterly gutted as she learned of the disqualification,
00:55with her teammate attempting to console her. She will now face a long wait until she can
01:00achieve redemption at the Olympics, with the next showpiece taking place on home soil in
01:04Los Angeles in 2028. There was reason to celebrate for the Walsh family, however,
01:10as younger sibling Gretchen was part of a world-record-achieving
01:13gold medal triumph in the mixed 4-by-100-meter relay.