It is always good to create some records and memories with your team. And that is exactly what happened with the Florida swimming team in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The swimmers from Florida broke the NCAA 200m medley relay record! Completing their event with a timing of 1:20.05, Florida was basking in chlorine-soaked joy. But alas! It didn’t last long. The situation turned so grim that even an Olympian had to chip in with his take. 

Right after the results were announced, shocking news came in. The Florida swimmers were shattered to learn that the entire team had been disqualified! The reason? Well, one of the swimmers, Scotty Buff, allegedly had a false start on the anchor leg with a reaction time of reaction time of -0.06 seconds. This nullified their efforts, cutting 40 points off the scoreboard. And this was not the only DQ taking place in the night. With a major chunk of them being induced by reaction timing, Olympian Kieran Smith had some interesting points to make. 

Smith, who has won an Olympic silver medal in Paris in the medley, surely knows a thing or two about the event. Thus, looking at the multiple disqualifications, Smith doubted whether the reaction timings were an essential factor. Commenting on social media, Smith wrote, “That is not a +.81 reaction time. Couple this with three other +.99 reaction times, should the accuracy of the reaction time mechanism be in question?” In essence, Smith tried to point out the unusual reaction timings of some of the swimmers. 

For example, Ilya Kharun had a reaction time of (+.81). Similarly, Ben Vorthmann, Daniel Baltes, and Sam Bork had +0.99 RTs on anchor. Surely, these numbers give enough fuel for thought. And for the record, Florida Gators were not the only team to face the disqualification blues. Michigan swimmer, Ozan Kalafat too had a poor reaction time. 

While Kalafat recorded a 23.35 split, his reaction was a -0.05, it was a tad better timing than Gators’ Scotty Buff, but the result was the same. Well, such a full-blown controversy has ruptured the swimming NCAA championships significantly. However, despite offering his valuable comments on the incident, Olympian Kieran Smith has been quite aware of not making such mistakes while in the pool. And as a result, he had a near-perfect medley race in the Paris Olympics. 

Kieran Smith goes for glory in Paris

Coming from the small vicinity of Ridgefield, US swimmer Kieran Smith had big dreams. And while he was always fascinated by the chlorine-soaked pools, Smith kept dreaming of making it to the big stage. Surely, growing in stature from time to time, Smith successfully fulfilled his Olympic dreams. Competing in the 400m freestyle in Tokyo, Smith clinched a bronze medal. But while he was basking in Olympic glory, the US swimmer was still not satisfied.

Cut to Paris, Smith added yet another Olympic medal to his kitty. And this time, it was silver. Taking part in the men’s 4x200m medley, Kieran Smith guided his team to a second-place finish. As expected, he was elated.

“It feels awesome. I’m super proud to be walking home from Paris with an Olympic silver medal, add to my tally,” Smith said after the race. “Happy to do it with these three men behind me and huge appreciation for the relay swimmers that got it done this morning as well.” Thus, with controversies surrounding the swimming realm, it remains to be seen whether the opinions of personalities like Kieran Smith can be of any help.