INCHEON, South Korea: Asian Games athletics judges stripped Bahrain’s Kenya-born runner Ruth Jebet of her steeplechase victory yesterday as she was about to collect the gold medal after a crushing win.
The 17-year-old junior world champion was led away in tears as Bahraini team leaders wrangled with race officials who ruled that Jebet had stumbled and put a foot inside the track.
She had annihilated the field at Incheon’s Asiad Main Stadium, crossing the line in nine minutes, 31.36 seconds, more than 24 seconds inside the Games record.
But as Jebet, who switched nationality to Bahrain last year, was about to step onto the podium, the stadium announcer declared that the result had been cancelled, drawing gasps from the crowd.
China’s Li Zhenzhu had already been given her silver medal and Lalita Babar of India her bronze. Once the new result is officially ratified a new ceremony will be organised with Li collecting gold.
Officials spotted that during her second-last lap, with her rivals well behind her and under no pressure at all, Jebet had stumbled and stepped inside the track.
In the heat of the moment, one Bahrain official, who refused to give his name, called the decision a “disgrace”.
Half-a-dozen Bahraini officials marched to the referees’ office to lodge a complaint. But the team later conceded that Jebet made the fault.
Jebet slumped in a corridor in the bowels of the stadium as teammates consoled her after the ruling, while Bahrain officials quizzed her on the breach of the rules.
“Did you put your foot here or here?” one asked sternly.
“I can’t remember,” Jebet whispered softly, looking dazed and distraught.
Before her disqualification, Jebet had been the third African-born runner of the night to claim gold in the colours of a wealthy Gulf state.
United Arab Emirates’ Ethopian import Alia Saeed Mohammed won the 10,000 metres and Qatar’s Mohamad Al Garni, originally from Morocco, took the men’s 5,000m.
Li became China’s second female gold medallist of the night, joining shot-putter Gong Lijiao, who ousted Iran’s Leyla Rajabi -- the Islamic republic’s first woman to win an Asian Games athletics medal.
Li’s time of 9:35.23 is itself a new Games record, shaving 20 seconds off the old mark.
Jebet’s misfortune means silver should go to Babar and bronze for her team-mate and 2010 champion Sudha Singh.
Meanwhile, an Indian archer whose mother sold her gold ornaments to buy him an imported bow helped win his country’s first ever Asian Games gold medal in the sport yesterday.
Rajat Chauhan, along with team-mates Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma, stunned hosts and world champions South Korea in the men’s compound team final.
The Indians edged out the Koreans 227-225 in the non-Olympic event in front of a vocal crowd at the Gyeyang archery field in Incheon.
Chauhan, 20, who hails from the desert state of Rajasthan, said he hoped the gold medal will inspire the rest of the Indian team.
“We used to look at the Indian medals tally every day and prayed that we would also contribute to it,” he said.
“And here we are with the gold medal. I hope India win more golds.”
Chauhan said he had failed his school-leaving exams four times because he was too busy training.
He added that his mother Nirmala had sold gold jewellery to raise about $3,500 to buy him an American-made bow.
“(She did it) without telling me,” Chauhan said.
“She must be so happy now.”
Team coach Ranjan Singh attributed the win to a rigorous training schedule that included a 15-day trip to an archery academy in Salt Lake City in the United States.
“We also came to South Korea a month early to get used to the conditions. All the hard work is paying off.”
The archery gold was India’s second at these Games, following shooter Jitu Rai’s victory in the men’s 50m pistol last Saturday. They have 23 medals overall.
India won 14 gold medals at the last Asiad in Guangzhou four years ago.AFP
