Moment of protest … Jana Pittman and Tamsyn Lewis talk to officials about the England team.
By Jano Gibson
April 3, 2006 - 8:20PM
Instead of bringing them together, gold has driven an even deeper wedge between bickering Australian athletes Jana Pittman and Tamsyn Lewis.
Lewis has vowed never to have anything to do with her fierce rival again after Pittman wrote to England’s athletes saying she was embarrassed by her teammate’s protest which led to the English being disqualified and Australia being handed the 4 x 400 metres relay gold at last month’s Commonwealth Games.
Lewis took their feud, which had seemingly calmed after their controversial win, to further depths on radio today.
“I’ve had an absolute gutful,” Lewis told MMM radio in Melbourne.
"I was willing to let it ride and let the finger be pointed at me and accept the blame, but for her to turn around and wipe her hands of it, while pointing her finger at me, is harsh.
"I don’t understand the girl’s motive - never have, never will.
:rolleyes: "Quite frankly after this, I want nothing to do with her.
“I’m moving back up to the 800s and I don’t want to have anything to do with her ever again.”
In her letter, Pittman apologised to the English and offered to give them her gold medal, but Australia’s head athletics coach Max Binnington says she has no reason to apologise for the farce which Athletics Australia and Commonwealth Games chiefs wish would just go away.
Binnington also confirmed Lewis’ claim that both she and Pittman had approached officials after the race to protest that England’s Natasha Danvers-Smith had stepped into the wrong lane at the second changeover.
While AA will seek changes to the rule, Binnington insists the result of the race was fair.
“I’m not really sure what she’s apologising for,” Binnington said.
"We’ve all been in teams which have lost races for breaking the rules for whatever reason.
"I don’t know whether embarrassed is the right word, but it’s a bit of a pain, we’d be happier if it went away.
"The continuation of it is not doing anyone any favours, including the English, but they know they were disqualified for breaking the rules, not because of any protest that Jana and Tamsyn may have made.
"The athletes know the rule, you can bet your bottom dollar the English coaches would have told their runners ‘don’t mess up the order’.
“At the end of the day, it was the responsibility of the English girl to make sure she stayed in order.”
Following yesterday’s revelations on ABC television about Pittman’s letter, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association issued a release today defending the disqualification.
The ACGA said AA would seek a review of the rules to insert “some element of discretion allowed by the referee.”
Binnington admitted England’s breach had no bearing on the result, but said handing officials discretionary powers only created more controversy.
“It’s difficult when you give officials discretion, some people will agree and some won’t,” Binnington said.
“At the moment the rule is there, it’s black and white.”
While saying it was also disappointed in the outcome of the race and that England would “have been deserving champions”, the ACGA said the track referee had seen England break the rules.
“As such the English team would have been disqualified irrespective of any comment made by an Australian team member,” the statement said.