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LAST UPDATE | 2 Mar 2024
ON A DRAMATIC day of racing at the world indoor championships in Glasgow yesterday, Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley appeared to secure her place in the final of the 400m, only for the Tipperary native to be later disqualified following an appeal from Austrian runner Susanne Gogl-Walli.
Mawdsley finished third in her semi-final heat, telling Virgin Media that she was “absolutely ecstatic” to book her place in tomorrow’s final.
The 25-year-old found herself in fourth place approaching the home strait before a strong finish pushed the Tipperary native into third, finishing with a time of 52.16.
However, Austria’s Gogl-Walli, who finished fourth, appealed the result based on an apparent infringement by Mawdsley on the final turn.
That appeal was successful, with Mawdsley adjudged to have cut in on the Austrian’s line without first being a stride clear.
Gogl-Walli was promoted to third and Mawdsley lost her place in the final.
The Irish athlete’s counter-appeal against her DQ was unsuccessful.
Again, still seems like a very harsh decision pic.twitter.com/agsX0mz3Ed
— John (@dafneflippers) March 1, 2024
The devastating development was the latest twist on a remarkable day of action in Scotland. Earlier Mawdsley has reached this evening’s semi-finals after a dramatic heat, in which she finished in a three-way tie for second place to earn an automatic qualification position.
Mawdsley ran in the third heat, which was won by American Talitha Diggs in 52.17. Mawdsley finished strongly to force her way through a gap either side of challengers Amandine Brossier (France), and Henriette Jaeger (Norway).
Incredibly, the trio could not be separated, and after a lengthy wait, all three were deemed to have tied for second place, in a time of 52.23. All three were therefore sent through to the semi-finals as automatic qualifiers.
Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was the fastest qualifier across all four heats, finishing in 51.31. Her compatriot Femke Bol cruised to victory in the fourth and final heat, in a time of 52.00.
Klaver then ran in the same semi-final as Mawdsley, with the Dutch athlete receiving a warning for a false start before the race restarted.
Klaver won the race in 51.18 with Diggs second at 51.28 and Mawdsley third before the later appeal moved her out of the qualifying places.
Bol won the second semi-final (50.66), with the USA’s Alexis Holmes (50.99) and Great Britain’s Laviai Nielsen (51.44) also advancing.
Earlier, a fast start from Israel Olatunde saw him finish fourth in a season’s best time of 6.70 in Heat 3 of the 60m.
The Tallaght AC sprinter finished just outside the automatic qualifying spots, sitting in third position of the non-automatic qualifying places.
Unfortunately, his time was not enough to progress to this evening’s semi-finals.
Elsewhere, a late fall proved costly for Sarah Healy in the 1500m heats.
Healy was pushing for a top three finish before a collision saw the Dubliner tumble on the home straight – her sixth-place finish with a time of 4:18.86 not enough to see her advance.
“I wouldn’t say I ran very smart,” Healy said.
“I felt great and totally in control until the last few metres, but I’ve no idea then what happened. That doesn’t normally happen to me so it’s really disappointing.
“I honestly have no words. It’s quite embarrassing really because it’s just not what I came here to do.”
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I wish news outlets covered these stories with more consistency. You hear nothing about these conflicts for days or weeks depending on the country, and then you’re expected to take in one massive news story that outlines months of conflict, and then you’ll hear nothing about it again for another while. RTE could axe half the fluff news stories and give running coverage of these kinds of stories as well as Irish news. That would be too much like informative journalism I suppose.
Saudi Arabia is a rogue terrorist state run every bit as worse as the likes of Syria. They are simply attacking Shia rebels because of their patholigical hatred of Shia’s and their terror of Iran. They are solely attacking Shia’s only while ignoring their Sunni creations in Yemen like ISIS and Al-Qaida (who blew the crap out of a few mosques last week). This is all in line with their growing fear of Shia strenght in Iraq. They will probably get sucked into a murderous war, but I’d say genocide is on the cards with these people. America and the West has strange friends and allies – but none weirder than SA.
Saudi Arabia just wants to reassert it’s dominance in the middle eastern region. It supports any organisation that is anti-Iran.
Correct, and Iran also supports any organisation that’s anti-Sunni.
Therein lies the problem – two regional superpowers in a protracted dick-waving contest.
@ Saudi v Iran aka Shia v Sunni (wahabi) nothing news there. It’s been going on for nearly 1000 years on and off!
Sunni=\=wahabi
Oh the hypocrisy.
Saudi Arabia(an unelected dictatorship) , other countries in the region(more unelected dictatorships) and the US have decided to act to prevent the fall of the guys they back in Yemen. No issues with this with the Western Media.
If Russia had decided to intervene in Ukraine when the elected government was overthrown in a coup and decided to use its army can you imagine the headlines in the press that has utterly berm bought by corporations and intelligence agencies. They would read ‘Russian Aggression’ etc with the moral West advising Russia not to intervene in the internal affairs of its neighbour.
This is illegal aggression that is and will get whitewashed in the Western Media. What will also get covered up by the media will be the fact the US has launched over 1,100 done and air strikes in Yemen under President Obama with the deaths of over 1,200 people, the vast majority of them innocent women and children burnt to cinders.
It’s amazing how people can still manage to complain about the US even when a military operation is launched which they are not involved in.
The drone strikes in Yemen have been conducted with the consent of the Yemenis government. Where are your facts that prove the “vast majority” of people killed in air strikes were civilians?
Jason. You are around long enough to not actually expect the Anti West brigade to provide facts or proof.
Well Jason, even a most rudimentary search on Google relating to US drone strikes and civilians will turn up a host of investigations.
Here is another. http://securitydata.newamerica.net/drones/yemen/analysis.html
America is not the problem here, Obama in fairness understands what is going on – unlike Republicans. Which is why they supporting the Shia led fight against IS in Iraq, but they have been duped into supporting SA.
Now I have to disagree “…. consent of the Yemenis government” – your joking right? The Sunni president? North Yemen Shia, South Yemen Sunni. There is NO Government in Yemen, just because a bunch of gold plated princes call “their man” a president doesn’t make him one. America has been targeting al-qaeda elements only up to now, but these are not the threat SA is interested in – its Shia’s. This is just part of a geo-sectarian war the gulf state loons are waging. Just look at the states that have backed SA? Pakistan, Sudan, Egypt and the gulf states. IS/al-qaeda are sunni creations. SA have a day of reckoning – hopefully soon for all the misery they have inflicted on the ME.
Even using your own link RM, at the upper level out of 1100 killed, 87 were civilians.
Now don’t get me wrong, this is still way too many, but which school did you go to that taught you that 87 out of 1100 is the “vast majority”?
Avina that’s because any adult male in the area is counted as a militant . The US also use a system known as a signature strikes whereby they attack based on particular behaviours and not identification of a target. So potentially you could have a group of civilians driving an SUV in the wrong area or doing some jumping jacks being blown up and confirmed as militant kills
So, by your own admission, you only have assumptions and interpretations rather than hard facts to prove your point.
Thanks for clearing that up.
@Austin Rock: Obama hasn’t a clue what’s going on, he’s busy golfing while the world burns, thanks though I needed a chuckle this morning.
As explained to Jason and Avina before by other greats such as Horgay and BLowe, the US classes anyone within a couple hundred metre blast radius as enemy combatants. Yes, it is outrageous and barbaric but that is the policy of the moral US government. So basically a ‘suspected’ terrorist is killed based on meta data and his immediate family are killed and even his neighbours who are killed are all classed as ‘enemy combatants’. Disgusting and barbaric yet never covered by Western Media.
Horgay and BLowe was one and the same person, and like yourself was high on rhetoric but always ran a mile when asked for evidence to back up his claims.
Horgay also had a habit of referring to B Lowe as a “great” despite them obviously being the same person. Not only that, Horgay had a habit of bringing up old arguments Avina and I had with B Lowe. Funny how there’s a few similarities starting to show.
And just as in RM’s post to Mick Jordan lower down this thread, Horgay and BLowe also had a habit of opening his posts with “Re Mick” etc…
Nice try Horgay, but your cover is blown again.
You’ve had more identities than a retiring Mossad operative at this stage….
Nice work special agents Jason & Avina.
Speaking of hypocrisy, we were the ones lowering our flag to half mast when Saudi Royals kick the bucket, not the Americans.
America identified targets and passed them to Saudi Arabia so they were involved
As we have learned, it’s always a good idea to interfere with these things. Especially with Saudi Arabia cos they never do anything bad….. Except ISIS and Boko Haram
According to assessments by even its own closet ally, the US, Saudi Arabia is the biggest financial supporter of terrorism in the queue.
Of course, saying that, the US operates the biggest terrorist program in the world in the firm of its drone program so maybe the two countries go well together.
You said it rm.
The Saudis were never going to permit an Shia dominated Iranian backed government on their door step. The Sunni – Shia war has been on going for 1500 years. Both sides despise the other with a hatred only found in religion. Both see each other as Heretics and Usurpers. And will quite happily slaughter each other with abandon.
Re Mick
You say this as if it is a perfectly natural conclusion and a natural turn of affairs.
Your bias shines through though Mick because if Russia had done likewise in Ukraine you would be the first to criticise and lambast.
RM, a religious dispute going on for 1400 years or so – It seems reasonable for Mick to describe it as a perfectly natural state of affairs in human conflict. This is not making an excuse for it. I suspect that the primary reasons the Saudis are intervening is that Iran, their regional nemesis, is involved in the rebel side, the conflict is in their own borders and they fear a destabilisation of the gulf which could impact on their primary means of income – oil. It wouldn’t matter is SA were democratic we would be seeing the exact same response. This is regional power politics. Unsavoury but there it is. As for those who hope SA get their comeuppance; be careful what you wish for. They are likely to be replaced by some thing far worse.
RM. The Russia – Ukrainian war has nothing to do with religion as this conflict has. If it was as simple as one country invading another for territorial gain then your analogy may have some cohesion.
But this is a regional religious war that has been continuing unabated for 1500 years. And your efforts to blame others outside this conflict for your own biased reasons is pathetic.
Good assessment John. KSA and Iran are as bad as each other in so many ways. Just as KSA funds proxies to further its agendas, so also does Iran fund and control various proxy armies all over the middle east in pursuit of its geopolitical objectives.
According to some commenters on here though, Iran are just a misunderstood peace-loving nation who “haven’t invaded anyone for thousands of years”.
Cé chomh fada anois go mbeidh cogadh cathartha san Araib Shádach féin?
These stories tend to bring out the most condescending of commenters.
My comment deleted,what a load of shi’ite
So..US backed Saudi fighting Houthi backed Iran in the south…while in the east Iran are being supported by the US in Iraq…all awhile the Iranian nuclear talks were on the verge of an agreement.
How convenient…
Some interesting background information on the present conflict :
“There’s much more than meets the eye here. In reality, inserting a foreign coalition military force into the country will increase the risk of spill-over. Looking at the harsh sectarian war brimming in Yemen, is it possible that Saudi Arabia and its ‘Sunni coalition’ may be attempting to provide air support and military assistance to its Islamic militant ‘affiliates’ inside Yemen? Recently, we exposed Saudi’s funding and supporting of al Qaeda in Yemen, in an attempt to remove the Shia Houthis who have just seized power. Perhaps Saudi is afraid that al Qaeda and AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) will be wiped out by the Shia Houthis if they did not intervene now. If this is indeed the case, it reveals just how important these extremist Sunni Islamic militant terrorist groups (including ISIS) are to Saudi Arabia in its strategy subterfuge to maintain its position as the ranking power in the region.”
“The fact that Yemen did not attack Saudi Arabia or any of the other GCC allies means that Saudi and its GCC partners are now in direct violation of international law, specifically the Nuremberg Principles and the Geneva Conventions.”
More :
http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/03/25/war-saudi-arabia-launches-airstrikes-against-neighboring-yemen/
Referring to some comments above : It’s very convenient to attempt an explanation of this war by stating “ Shi’a and Sunni factions have fighting each other for 1500 years.” There were differences and conflicts, yes, but insignificant if we study our own history. Napoleon’s wars across Europe, Christian conflict in NI, two devastating world wars, Vietnam etc, etc. (Any body counts ?) The illegal invasion of Iraq and intentional exploitation of the religious divisions added to the Sunni – Shi’a conflict. The total destruction of Iraq, Libya etc plus the droning of Yemen and many other countries has created an ideal and fertile ground for terrorists. Some self reflection may be helpful here.
The Napoleonic Wars, World Wars, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Vietnam had absolutely nothing to do with religious conflicts. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
The form of governance in the Middle East is what it is. It suits their mentality. Sunni and Shia will always seek ways to get a dig at each other whether there is oil or no oil. Sunnis and Shias hate each other even more than they hate Christians and Jews because their differences revolve around the basic very early interpretations of Mohamed’s teachings which are the absolute fundamentals of their respective religions. The American and West are only interested in oil and will manipulate in order to get it as it is a vital interest. Remember 1979 when OPEC jacked the price leading to shortages in the West. Interesting that Oman has its own form of Islam and seems detached from the problems in the surrounding countries, same form of governance though, absolute monarchy, but not as much oil.
Good old Saudi Arabia! They have the best weapons that money can buy and the worst human rights record that money can hide.
The military intervention will lead to a rise in oil prices. Couldn’t possibly be in Saudi’s interests
Anne. Its the Saudis that are keeping the price low by pumping surplus oil. High oil prices make shale oil economicly viable and that means less need for Saudi oil.
True Mick.
Yet, the Saudis only pimped their old wells with salt water at the behest of the US. The process is irreversible and there will be a good deal of surplus oil for a while yet.
Was the US trying to evert a chance of government in Russia, Iran, Venezuela etc. Who knows. More than likely, certainly on Venezuela where the US was caught red handed three weeks trying another coup. That failed and now the US has declared war on Venezuela with President Obama believing the threat from Venezuela to be so significant he has declared a state of emergency in the US so he can tackle the threat. Strange though the way more of this has been covered in the Western mainstream media…
“That failed and now the US has declared war on Venezuela”
I knew you posted some ridiculous drivel but this takes the cake.
Well, you obviously missed that boat Jason.
The US, over two weeks ago now I think, declared Venezuela a threat to national security with the threat being so severe that President Obama has declared a state of emergency in the US to combat it.
Smell the coffee Jason
Please link to the US’ declaration of war on Venezuela, as you directly claimed the US has declared war on them.
Where’s Frank?
I miss Frank. He always provided some great insights.
95% of the Saudi Army are Pakistanis… The other 5% are useless pen pushing Saudis.
Can you substantiate that statement?
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