“You Need To Call Everything”: US Olympic Commentator Clears the Air on Bizarre DQ at NCAA Swimming Meet

The 2o24 Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming Championship happened between 20-24 Feb 2024 where collegiate athletes competed in various disciplines to earn All-ACC recognition. However, a bizarre moment followed by a gesture of sportsmanship reflected on the final day which pooled mixed reactions. North Carolina State University senior Owen Lloyd had only celebrated his 14.37.04 finish for hardly three seconds in the 1508.76m freestyle event—when the referee disqualified him on his teammate Ross Dant’s lane stripping him of his conference title.

Later, defending the fastest one in the group, Dant said, “Owen beat me fair and square, he should be on that podium…He earned that, and that’s his emotion.” Fortunately, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming also the first American female athlete to achieve the feat witnessed the moment live and was keen to share her strong opinion on the DQ.

NCAA Swimming update: Veteran disagrees with judgment

The 22-year-old wasn’t having any of the unseen checkmate by Rule 2, Section 5 of the NCAA rulebook implemented on him. The rule states, “a swimmer who changes lanes during a heat shall be disqualified,” but some argue that in the excitement of his celebration, after the race had finished, Lloyd stepped into the adjacent lane.

Present as the color commentator when Owen Lloyd was DQ’ed, the 1996 Summer Olympics champion Amy Van Dyken posted a video on X saying, “Did he go into Ross Dant, his teammate’s lane? yes, he did, did he interfere with anybody? no, he did not.” The 51-year-old with six Olympic medals then pointed out, “Not five minutes after all this hot mess happened there were backstrokers that were diving into the pool. Why is that a problem?….. So if you gonna call one call them all. ” The former elite competitors’ statement further supports the strong dissatisfaction shared by the two affected swimmers of NC State.

How did North Carolina State University swimmers react?

Since the start, Ross Dant stood in solidarity with his teammate Owen Lloyd calling out “the dumbest rule in swimming.” Dant further added, “I think the rule makes sense if you’re interfering with a swimmer that is still racing…He didn’t interfere with my lane because I was already done, and everyone else around us was done as well.”

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While losing out on the ACC individual title, Lloyd said, “There are lessons to be learned and I’m sure I will find the silver linings in this experience but I know that I am not finished and that all of this just added more fuel to the fire.” While the conclusion prompted divided reactions, how would you measure the right in the situation?

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