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I can't imagine something more tragic for the participants.
The Pan American Games were last weekend in Santiago, Chile, and something went wrong at the half-way point in the women's 20 km race walk event. In the words of the winner, Peru's Kimberly García: "We realized it since the first kilometer. The time did not coincide with the distance. It was more about us focusing on our feelings not to lose control," García was quoted saying after the race. "It didn't affect myself alone, I wanted the Pan American record. Other girls wanted a spot in the Olympic Games. It is a shame that will not happen because the weather, everything was fit for good timings."
The course was 3 kilometers short! The game organizers left the course creation to the Pan American Athletics Corporation, who chose the person who created the course - unnamed - who messed up.
Now, these games are usually Olympic qualifiers. What happens to these women now? The records were cancelled, as should be. The NPR article doesn't say whether or not the race results were entirely scrubbed. There's a lot of information lacking, perhaps it's just too soon to know what the final fallout will be.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209709900/race-walk-world-record-pan-american-games
The Pan American Games were last weekend in Santiago, Chile, and something went wrong at the half-way point in the women's 20 km race walk event. In the words of the winner, Peru's Kimberly García: "We realized it since the first kilometer. The time did not coincide with the distance. It was more about us focusing on our feelings not to lose control," García was quoted saying after the race. "It didn't affect myself alone, I wanted the Pan American record. Other girls wanted a spot in the Olympic Games. It is a shame that will not happen because the weather, everything was fit for good timings."
The course was 3 kilometers short! The game organizers left the course creation to the Pan American Athletics Corporation, who chose the person who created the course - unnamed - who messed up.
Now, these games are usually Olympic qualifiers. What happens to these women now? The records were cancelled, as should be. The NPR article doesn't say whether or not the race results were entirely scrubbed. There's a lot of information lacking, perhaps it's just too soon to know what the final fallout will be.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209709900/race-walk-world-record-pan-american-games
