FINA's side of the Grant Hackett DQ

FINA is having none of the "they targeted Grant Hackett" excuse. Here is what they had to say: "... In the upset of the day, Hackett finished not only outside the top-ten who qualified for Beijing (he finished fifteenth), but was also disqualified based on the FINA Open Water Swimming Rule 6.3.1, which prohibits any one swimmer from interfering with another swimmer by making intentional contact. Hackett’s first infringement (yellow flag) came at 1hr27mins into the race, while the second was within the last 300m, when swimmers desperately scrambled to find the quickest path to the finish. The Australian team subsequently filed a protest, which was followed by meetings with the head referee Mr. Ronnie Wong, but the protest was not accepted, as both the infringements were confirmed by two other referees. “It’s unfortunate that any swimmer should be disqualified,” Mr. Stephen Cassidy, President of the Technical OWS Committee said about the issue, “but I have no doubt it was warranted and that the referees made the correct decision.” [Link]