Feuerlöscher Jubel costs athlete at championship

She had every reason to be happy: The high school student Clara Adams ran last weekend at the CIF State Track and Field Championships, the official Californian national championships for athletics at high school level, its competition. The 16-year-old needed 53.24 seconds for 400 meters, nobody was faster.

After the finish line, the student of the North Salina Highschool ran to her father, who is also her coach and was sitting in the stands. He presented his daughter a little fire extinguisher. In doing so, she ran back to the racetrack, stood a little off a lawn and deleted her shoes – according to the motto: I am so fast that even my spikes spray sparks. The gesture was a tribute to the US athlete Maurice Greene, who had celebrated his victory over 100 meters in 2004 in a similar way.

However, the cheering was obviously not well received by the officials of the Californian Athletics Association California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). They disqualified Adams before the award ceremony, recognized the title and concluded them from the 200-meter final and the rest of the competition. The reason: unsportsmanlike. A shock for the 16-year-old “I was robbed”, the student told the “Los Angeles Times”. “I had fun,” said Adams, noting that their victory over the 400 meters was their first championship title. “I had never won anything like this and they took it away. I didn’t do anything wrong”. She trained so hard for this title.

Even her father could not understand the process. “She was off the track, on the lawn. Her opponents had been gone for a long time, so she didn’t get on her nerves,” said David Adams. “It was a father-daughter moment”. Adam’s family demands the return of their title. You have activated a lawyer that prepares legal steps against the CIF. So far, however, the officials of the California Athletics Association (CIF) have not publicly responded to the demands for a withdrawal of the decision.