South African gold-medalist Cameron van der Burgh admitted to taking extra underwater kicks during his world-record performance in the men’s 100-meter breast stroke. If caught by the judges the action would’ve disqualified him from competition.
Van der Burgh eventually came clean and defended his actions when he speaking with the Sydney Morning Herald.
”If you’re not doing it, you’re falling behind,” he said. “It’s not obviously – shall we say – the moral thing to do, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it.”
According to the rulebook, swimmers are allowed one underwater dolphin kick during their underwater breaststroke pullouts. Replays later showed van der Burgh taking three. There is also no underwater replay system in place to really prevent something like this from happening since FINA, the international swimming body has yet to utilize the technology in international meets.
There is also really no danger (if any) in van der Burgh being stripped of his gold medal as the window to appeal the decision has long passed. There’s always the possibility that the IOC takes other actions however given what happen to the Chinese badminton players who allegedly threw their own match.
