Should Ainslie have been disqualified?

[glashen]

Surely this is old news and sensibly we should all move on!

The original incident was regrettable, but Ben's behaviour was wrong and not the right image for the UK sailing team, having said that we all have moments we wish we could re run differently. I don't watch football on TV anymore after that stupid back kick David Beckham gave to an opponent whilst lying on the ground, if you get the status and rewards of being a top sportsman it is reasonable to expect better behaviour.

Also having some experience of sailing at the grass roots competitors abusing race officials, other competitors, bystanders or anyone else is something I believe must always be discouraged (I know sailors who would have done a lot more than remonstrate with the TV crew but that doesn't make it right.)
.
But maybe Ben knows this and I would prefer to put this one down to a momentary lapse which he now regrets and then I can continue to respect him and his achievements. That after all is what the rules are there for, but the disqualification was sadly fully justified.

On the issue of timing it is clearly within the rules to bring an action after the event in a case like this.

 

[exfinnsailor]

Suppose its a bit like having a camera crew running round on a football pitch and getting in the way of a goal

Perhaps they will keep out of the way in future and perhaps someone will take note of what might happen later this year.


Suppose he could have protested the Race Committee for allowing the officials to get to close. Being disqualified after the event is pushing it a bit.

..

 

[grumpy_o_g]

he's a professional and should deal with it as such.

So were the cameramen, supposedly. Difference was, they didn't behave professionally. The almost screwed up Ainslie's chances of competing and one on the UK's best chances at Gold. They got in they way and should face the consequences. Personally I think Ainslie was very restrained - I am assuming the cameramen and boat crew have been banned from covering the Olympics?

 

[Thistle]

Could you post an site address for those of us that do not have it?

Thanks to St599 for posting the text of the rule. For the whole thing see the ISAF site here.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

FAIR SAILING A boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognized principles of sportsmanship and fair play. A boat may be penalized under this rule only if it is clearly established that these principles have been violated. A disqualification under this rule shall not be excluded from the boat’s series score

According to the post by dunedin

(the two race disqualification he was given looked to be calculated to drop him from leader to just outside the top 10 and therefore he did not compete in the medal race).

I suspect that there is more than a grain of truth in dunedin's post.

If so, then surly the organisers are guilty of manipulating the competition.

 

[estarzinger]

Rule 69: When a protest committee, from its own observation or a report received from any source, believes that a competitor may have
committed a gross breach of a rule, good manners or sportsmanship, or may have brought the sport into disrepute, it may
call a hearing.

 

[st599]

So were the cameramen, supposedly. Difference was, they didn't behave professionally. The almost screwed up Ainslie's chances of competing and one on the UK's best chances at Gold. They got in they way and should face the consequences. Personally I think Ainslie was very restrained - I am assuming the cameramen and boat crew have been banned from covering the Olympics?

The Olympics own their own TV production company OBS. They sell the World feed to each countries host broadcaster. This doesn't have any local interest stuff like athlete interviews, so the host broadcasters pay the Olympics to put in camera teams for interviews etc.

The rules are so strict that if you had a send in your photos section in a programme, you could only use images which had no athletes, officials or Olympic logos in them.

 

[snowleopard]

One of the biggest problems when the press misbehave is that they make a big stink about the object of the report but can choose to keep quiet about what their own people do.

 

[pendlecats]

No. BUT he rightly should have had consequences on his future race, not the one already finished, so should have the camera boat.

I hope sailing coverage doesn't get like Cycling races, they impede far too much IMO and with sailing there's the addition of wake, which is what seemed to be the spark that set him off.

 

[bbg]

Was Ainslie's incident so bad that he deserved to be disqualified for something that took place AFTER the event had finished?

Before voting, consider then that if it is applicable then the cricket, rugby etc teams could also be disqualified for behaviour AFTER a match has finished.




Consider then that if it is applicable then the cricket, rugby etc teams could also be disqualified for behaviour AFTER a match has finished.

The only consideration has to be the rules under which he was sailing. As has been pointed out, he broke rule 2. Under rule 64.1(a) the only penalty available is disqualification. Under rule 64.1(d) the penalty should apply to the race closest in time to the incident. So the one he just sailed.

I wonder whether it was possible to disqualify him for two races as opposed to just one. I would have to read the decision of the protest committee to be sure.

But the decision to disqualify him for a race that has already been sailed is completely consistent with (and probably the only possible result) under the RRS.

 

[estarzinger]

Its worth pointing out that other sailors have had 2 year bans for rule 69 violations. Here is the current ISAF list:


Germany - Frank Bode - Breaches of good manners and sportmanship - (13 months) 1 -December 2011 - 31 December 2013
Latvia - Andrejs Buls - Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship - (16 months) August 2011 - December 2012
Mexico - Alberto Campos Perez - Breaches of good manners and sportsmanship - (2 years) 7 May 2011 - 6 May 2013
Mexico - Maria del Mar Campos Perez - Breaches of good manners and sportmanship - (2 Years) 7 May 2011 - 6 May 2013
Australia - Jeff Carter - (24 months) from 3 November - 2011 - 2 November 2013
Australia - Sam Price - (12 months) from 23 November 2011 - 22 November 2012