Jana Drama # 11: Tamsyn Lewis Says Jana Part Of The 4x4 Protest Against England

Pittman part of protest, says Lewis

27mar06

TAMSYN Lewis says the controversial protest lodged after the women’s 4 x 400m relay final came after a discussion involving all four runners, despite teammate Jana Pittman publicly washing her hands of the move.
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Australia became a shock winner when track officials deemed England, which easily reached the line first, had accepted the baton for the third leg from an illegal track position.
Lewis and Pittman, whose off-track feud had dominated talk in the lead-up to the Games, referred the matter to stewards moments after the completion of the race.

England officials and commentators reacted angrily to the upholding of the protest, and British newspapers last night quoted Pittman as saying as she left the track: “I’m not associating myself with that decision. England won the gold medal.”

But Lewis said relay runners Rosemary Hayward and Caitlin Willis were also consulted before she and Pittman approached officials.

“Make no mistake, this was discussed straight after the race and it was decided Jana and I would approach officials,” Lewis said.

Australia has been heavily criticised for raising the matter, which did not affect the outcome of the race. England’s Natasha Danvers Smith was adjudged to have lined up in the wrong order before accepting the baton.

Track rules left officials with no discretion on the infringement and they changed the order of finish from England-Australia-India to Australia-India-Nigeria.

“It was as clear as day when the official called Jamaica, us and then England,” Lewis said in outlining what the event’s third-leg runners were told as they waited for teammates.

Rules say runners must be positioned in the order of the incoming runners as they pass the 200m mark.

The race position of athletes had changed between that point and the baton changeover.

“There was a lot of noise and yelling and it wasn’t up to me to tell her (Danvers Smith) that she was in the wrong spot,” Lewis said. “She went past me and stood on the inside and that was her fault, not mine.”

There is conjecture as to whether track officials were aware of the incident before Lewis and Pittman raised it. But Lewis said they had been already analysing the matter.

Pittman’s denial that she was involved in the process is certain to raise further tension between the pair.

The body language of Pittman and Lewis was icy after the race, and at one stage of the celebratory lap of the four Australians, Lewis lagged 70m behind Pittman, Willis and Hayward. Channel 9 also showed replays of Lewis trying to embrace Pittman, who turned her back.

Lewis refused to talk about suggestions of a rift.

“I’m not going to talk about the past, as it’s just that,” she said.

But Lewis hit back at track greats Raelene Boyle and Peter Norman for their recent criticism of her.

The pair had questioned the funding Lewis received, arguing her results did not warrant the backing.

“I’m hardly on big money and I train my guts out to be the best,” said the nine-time national champion and two-time Commonwealth Games 4 x 400m gold medallist.

Must be good at sport and good sports
By GEOFF ROACH
29mar06
TO me, just one episode marred Melbourne’s enchanting Commonwealth Games.

That was the circumstance surrounding the successful protest of the Australian women’s 4x400 metres relay team on Saturday night.

If what we have read and heard is correct, Australia’s Tamsyn Lewis well knew her English opponent was in error when they took their assigned placings on track for the offending baton interchange.

But not only did she not attempt to rectify the situation at that time. Apparently, she couldn’t wait to inform the judges immediately following the race. And to claim credit, in the aftermath, for her role.

There will be many, of course, who applaud Lewis’s stance and maintain all’s fair in love and international sport.

But these were not the win-at-all-costs Olympics or some enormously lucrative professional meet.

These were Games designed solely for the purpose of promoting and fostering relations between the many far-flung Commonwealth countries.

Which is why, despite what many believe is their irrelevance, they continue. And why they include so many quaint and diverse sports.

Indeed, according to friends who attended throughout, the principal ingredient for the fabulous success of the Melbourne carnival was the atmosphere of friendship and goodwill which permeated every event and venue.

Certainly that spirit was vibrantly evident in Sunday night’s closing ceremony.

And it promises to be even further enhanced when a committed Delhi, with a lot of help from Bollywood, hosts India’s first Games in 2010.

But to many - including, it seems, Jana Pittman - it was sadly lacking in that one instance on Saturday night at the G.

Intriguingly, Pittman appears to have emerged from the Games miles ahead of Lewis in the public’s estimation.

Rather than the prima donna she has been branded since her drama-filled Athens campaign, the Sydney woman dubbed Jana Drama emerged from her 400 metres hurdles triumph as simply a highly emotional and talented athlete who wants to be loved.

Melbourne’s Lewis, on the other hand, seems even to have lost the support of two of the most influential and well-performed Victorian athletes of all time.

Track great Raelene Boyle has called for Lewis’s funding - reliably estimated to total more than :eek: $210,000 over the past six years - to be reviewed.

“Tamsyn will not win an individual medal. It won’t happen . . . :o ever,” said Boyle who herself captured seven Commonwealth golds. "Outside of being useful in the relay, she hasn’t fulfilled what we thought was her talent and that’s where it will always sit.

"I’m just being frank about the situation. There are a number of athletes in the Australian team who need their funding reviewed.

“There is surely a youngster out there who may have gained more than Tamsyn by running at these Games,” she concluded.

Olympic silver medal sprinter Peter Norman concurred.

“I’d consider taking funding off her,” he said, of the athlete who is not ranked in the world’s top 100 over 400 metres and who, at 27, has not surpassed her best time for the distance in six years.

To her credit, a defiant Lewis responded: “I am hardly on big money and I train my :rolleyes: guts out. Of course I’m disappointed with my result but I do my best for my country and try to promote the sport.”

interesting just listening to Australian radio on the net as i type this and Australia’s last runner Rosemary Hayward just said “i ran outta my skin on the last leg so i was on my hands and knees after the race and didnt know about any protest” :confused: :confused:

‘Ruthless’ Aussie seizes gold medal

01.04.06 1.00pm
By Greg Tourelle

Australians ruthless at their sport? If there ever was an instance that screamed out the answer “yes”, it came last Sunday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground athletics.

The Commonwealth Games were winding to a close and one of the final events on the track was the 4 X 400m women’s relay.

England won by more than 10 metres, but was disqualified after a protest by the Australian team, which was subsequently awarded the gold medal.

After the race, Tamsyn Lewis, who ran the third leg for Australia, told her teammates that England’s Natasha Danvers had moved to her inside ahead of the second baton change.

Under the rules, runners are sent onto the track by officials in the same order as their incoming athletes reach the 200m mark. At that stage, Australia was running second behind Jamaica with England’s Nicola Sanders third, but closing fast.

Danvers should not have placed herself on Lewis’ inside, but there was no correction by officials and no contact with Lewis.

What stuck in the the British craw was that Lewis made no attempt to take back her position, instead waiting until after the race to lodge a protest.

“Ooh yeah, I was aware of it,” she laughed afterwards. "I couldn’t get many words out after my race but I managed to get it out to the girls that England should be disqualified because they jumped in front.

“It is an unfortunate thing to happen because rules are rules and I am happy with gold.”

Gold at all cost, it seems.

The English athletes were furious. “The protest was not warranted,” said Danvers. “It is not fair. We deserved gold. We were clearly ahead. I was concentrating on my runner Nicola Sanders coming down the straight, nothing else. I was not concentrating on Tamsyn. I have not heard good things about Tamsyn.”

Danvers-Smith’s husband and coach Darrell Smith was blunter.

“It is a very unprofessional way to achieve a gold medal. Just because you are at home does not give you the right to win at all costs. It is cheating.”

England’s Daily Telegraph called it a “disgraceful act of gamesmanship that went against the spirit of the so-called Friendly Games”.

Although the incident was downplayed in the Australian media, it was revved up a few days later when Australian running great Ron Clarke dished it out his countrywomen.

“I am absolutely appalled by what went on and frankly our girls should never have accepted the medal,” Clarke told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

“How can they accept a gold medal when they were out-raced? They should give their gold medals to England without hesitation.”

Officials had shown leniency to Asafa Powell when he crossed a lane during his 100m semifinal win, reportedly because the action had not inconvenienced anyone, but the English runners were shown no such compassion.

Another former star athlete, Raelene Boyle, questioned their role.

"I can’t understand where the officials were throughout all this. Why wasn’t he or she standing right there and instructing the runners where to position themselves. I think it could have been far better handled and common sense should have prevailed.

“What would’ve happened if the Australians had won clearly and the English protested… in order to get a gold medal?”

Clarke had the answer to that. “We would’ve become a republic.” The interesting role in all of this came from Jana Pittman, who ran the last leg for Australia.

The Telegraph in London reported her saying: “I’m not associating myself with that decision. England won the gold medal.”

And it said the disqualified English athletes applauded her for that stance but The Age newspaper reported that Pittman was elated when the decision was made to award Australia first placing.

“We won gold,” she was quoted as saying. “We did it. We did it.” But when she saw an upset Danvers she put her arm around her and stopped celebrating.

“As far as we are concerned they are the gold medallists,” Pittman then said. "And we’ve got it by default. Ultimately they are the champions, but if we get it, we have to take it humbly. Look at it, they beat us by 10 metres.

The irony is that Pittman and Lewis are often at loggerheads. They indulged in a much-reported “catfight” in the lead-up to the Games, yet when this situation begged for Pittman to take an opposing voice to Lewis, they protested to officials together.

In another irony, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Stay In Touch column this week reported on the comments of Sparc chief executive Nick Hill that New Zealanders tended to be too nice, but that Australians were extraordinarily direct and ruthless in comparison.

“Bullshit,” said the Herald.

Hmm.

  • NZPA