American swimmer disqualified in her only Olympic event after illegal violation

American swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified and lost out on a bronze medal.

American Olympic swimmer Alex Walsh suffered heartbreak after being disqualified and having her bronze medal taken away in Paris.

Walsh competed in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley Final on Saturday night and looked to have secured a place on the podium.

17-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh took another gold, with Kate Douglass from the United States coming in second.

Walsh looked to be the second representative from the US in the top three but a video review uncovered that she had committed an illegal turn at the halfway point.

Image: Claro Sports
Image: Claro Sports

Walsh was therefore disqualified following the back-to-breast violation and the bronze medal went to Australian Kaylee McKeown, who had initially finished in fourth.

The University of Virginia graduate is known for his versatility when it comes to strokes and won silver in the medley event in Tokyo back in 2021, as well as picking up three golds in the 2023 World Championships.

But it was a very different feeling that she experienced this time around and plenty of fans had sympathy for her following the unfortunate disqualification.

One wrote: “Alex Walsh DQ’ed for a back-breast turn violation in her only event in the Olympics. Heartbreaking.”

Another said: “That’s absolutely heartbreaking for Alex Walsh.”

A third added: “Damnnnnn Alex Walsh I feel so bad for her but girl why would you roll over???!”.

A fourth commented: “I feel so bad for Alex Walsh. That was her only chance for an indiv medal too.”

A fifth posted: “Man I feel awful for Alex Walsh. Put in all that work and time just to be disqualified right at the end.”

Walsh looked utterly gutted as she learned of the disqualification, with her teammate attempting to console her.

She will now face a long wait until she can achieve redemption at the Olympics, with the next showpiece taking place on home soil in Los Angeles in 2028.

There was reason to celebrate for the Walsh family, however, as younger sibling Gretchen was part of a world-record achieving gold medal triumph in the mixed 4x100m relay.

A lip reader picked up on what Angela Carini told Imane Khelif after withdrawing from their Olympic boxing match.

Khelif, who hails from Algeria, won their first boxing match at the games after Carini, who is Italian, withdrew from the fight after 46 seconds. The Algerian is one of two boxers who were cleared to participate in the Olympics after being banned from the World Championships because they were deemed to be biological males.

Carini abandoned the bout after she was punched twice by Khelif in the opening round. Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport is reporting that a lip reader told her opponent, “it hurt like hell” after getting hit.

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Angela Carini Broke Down In the Ring After Withdrawing From What She Believed Was An Unfair Fight

Angela Carini was seen crying in the center of the ring after the bout’s premature end.

“I took the second blow to the nose and it hurt so bad, I didn’t feel like continuing,” the Italian said after the fight. “Did I let myself be influenced by the media case? No, I was here to win my Olympics. Giving up was a gesture of maturity, not of surrender.”

Meanwhile, Khelif’s inclusion has been the cause of much controversy following last year’s disqualification.

The Olympics website said the boxer had been banned hours before a gold medal match against Yang Liu of China in New Delhi after failing a testosterone test due to elevated levels of the hormone.

Algeria’s Olympic Committee pushed back with claims that the disqualification was part of a conspiracy to stop the country from winning a gold medal. They also insisted that the high testosterone levels were due to “medical reasons.”