Silver medal for Kaylee McKeown? Video shows second USA swimmer should have been disqualified

Kaylee McKeown was robbed off an Olympic silver medal when vision showed a US rival should have been disqualified in the medley. But the Australian star's response showed her true class.

Kaylee McKeown says she will just “cop it on the chin” after vision emerged which showed she was robbed of a silver medal in a controversial women’s 200m medley final.

McKeown secured a ‘Bradbury’ bronze medal in the medley on night eight of the competition when she touched fourth in the final behind Canadian Summer McIntosh, but was quickly promoted to the bronze medal after USA’s Alex Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn.

Officials ruled Walsh was not on her back when she touched the wall from the backstroke to breaststroke leg which is an automatic disqualification.

Alex Walsh (left) reacts after being disqualified, next to her teammate Kate Douglass. Picture: AFP

It is the same rule that resulted in McKeown getting disqualified at the 2023 world titles and is a danger for all athletes as they push at max threshold and sometimes misjudge the length to the wall.

But vision has since started circulating which shows US teammate and training partner Kate Douglass executed an identical turn.

If anything, the turn by Douglass looks worse than Walsh’s illegal turn and raises questions about how officials spotted one but not the other indiscretion.

McKeown said there was no avenue to protest the decision to get elevated again from bronze to silver.

“I don’t think anything’s going to happen,” McKeown said.

“I mean, we tried to protest last year when I got DQ’d (at world titles) for the same thing, but nothing came from it.

“So I think it’s just something that you’ve kind of got a cop on the chin.”

Vision shows Kate Douglass executing an illegal turn in the 200m individual medley.

Kaylee McKeown was awarded the bronze medal after Alex Walsh’s disqualification. Picture: Getty Images

It is not the first time video footage has shown an Australian athlete being denied a medal at the Olympic Games after breaststroker Christian Sprenger was infamously denied gold in the 100m breaststroke in London after underwater video showed South African Cameron van der Burgh doing three butterfly kicks when the rule only allowed one.

Just as it was in 2012, there is no avenue for Australia to appeal the result or for World Aquatics to review the footage to change the results.

Australia team head coach Rohan Taylor said “you can’t change” the result, so the Dolphins will not be issuing any form of protest with World Aquatics.

Douglass spoke after the race and questioned why Walsh was disqualified in the first place.

“I was really heartbroken for her. I felt like she deserved to win that medal, and she deserved to be on the podium with me,” Douglass said on the night.

“I’m upset because I don’t know if it was the right call or not, but I can’t really speak on that, I’m not an official.

“But when it comes to back-to-breast turns like that, we all have our fair share of mistakes and stuff.

“I don’t know if it was worth the DQ. There’s nothing you can say to make it better.”

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The medal controversy had little impact on the overall medal tally result with USA waiting until the final race of the night, the men’s 4x100m medley relay, to claim victory as the No. 1 nation with eight gold medals to Australia’s seven.

McKeown will leave Paris with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Originally published as Silver medal for Kaylee McKeown? Video shows second USA swimmer should have been disqualified