Officiating At The Tokyo Olympics – The Women’s 10K Marathon Swim
Courtesy of WOWSA, Odaiba Marine Park, Tokyo Bay, Japan.
In the days leading to the 2016 Rio Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, a large Atlantic Ocean surge and storm tore the marathon swimming course apart on Copacabana Beach. The finish pontoon, starting pontoon, and feeding station were swept away or were lost and had to be replaced. In the frantic hours trying to reconstruct the Olympic course, the lane lines of the finish chute were not place exactly to specifications.
This would ultimately led to the most impactful call of Olympic marathon swimming history.
On the final stroke of the women’s Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, FINA Chief Referee John West saw Italy’s Rachele Bruni go under the water right in front of the finish pontoon and France’s Aurélie Muller above her [see photos above]. Muller and Bruni had been sprinting together, each fighting for a silver medal. With Muller on the outside and Bruni on the inside, Muller swam right into the large white buoy on her left side. West judged that Muller impeded Bruni – and was red carded. Muller immediately lost her Olympic medal, opening up the bronze medal position to hometown favorite Poliana Okimoto.
West’s disqualification call was immediate and was not overturned despite Team France’s official protest. The pressure on the Olympic referees is tremendous. They want to oversee a fair competition and are under the global microscope to assure that a fair race is called.
“But with 25 athletes swimming around 28 turn buoys and feeding stations during a 7-loop race over a nearly 2-hour period, there are inevitable bumps and infractions,” explained Steven Munatones. “There are two essential rules in competitive marathon swimming: unsportsmanlike conduct and impeding. There are innumerable instances of bumping, scratching, pulling on legs or arms, cutting off, veering into, tapping or touching, slapping, clipping, conking, swiping, whacking, pulling off on on goggles and swim caps, obstructing, interfering, pummeling, nudging, punching, kicking, elbowing, pushing, jostling, shoving, crowding, banging [against], smacking, pull-backs, ziplining, smashing into or pressing against another athlete or a turn buoy or feeding station.
Under those circumstances, making the right call within a split second over an intense two-hour period is extremely difficult. Referees can ask themselves, ‘Was that impeding intentional or unintentional?’ Who can really tell if a bump or elbow is truly a conscious act or an act of retribution, or simply an accident? The pressure on the officials and referees is tremendous – and no one wants to get a call wrong because that literally change who wins a medal or not.”
Similar to a channel crossing with one swimmer assisted by many support crew members and escorted by a pilot, there are always more volunteers helping to put together a marathon swim than the actual number of swimmers.
The 42 officials of the women’s Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo Bay include the following individuals – and this total does not include photographers and videographers on media boats, cameramen on shore, kayakers on the water, various pilots, and other communications and logistics personnel and volunteers on shore and in the water:
- FINA Bureau Delegate: Zouheir El Moufti of Morocco
- Chief Referee: Abdulmonem Al Alawi of Oman
- Assistant to Chief Referee: John West of New Zealand
- Referee #1: Sid Cassidy of the USA
- Assistant to Referee #1: Fernando Terrilli of Argentina
- Referee #2: Avelino Gomes Monteiro of Senegal
- Assistant to Referee #2: Bill Ford of Australia
- Safety Delegate: Noam Zwi of Israel (on water)
- Assistant Safety Delegate: Pedro Brando of Europe
- Lap Counter: Samuel Ufitimana Kinimba of Rwanda
- Course Officer: Jean-Paul Narce of France
- Assistant Course Officer: NTO Local to be decided
- Turn Judge #1: Matt Wilson of USA
- Turn Judge #2: Muneto Kato of Japan
- Turn Judge #3: Takashi Fujisawa of Japan
- Turn Judge #4: Tamako Kihara of Japan
- Pontoon Supervisor: Bourzik El Mostafa of Africa
- Safety Delegate: Yew Siang Soh of Malaysia (on land)
- Clerk of Course: Tanya Bogomilova of Bulgaria
- Assistant to the Clerk of Course: Wen Yuhong of Asia
- Starter: Ronnie Wong of Hong Kong
- Assistant to the Starter: Mika Kakizaki of Japan
- Information Hot Desk: to be decided
- Announcer/Commentator: to be decided
- Chief Recorder: Morgan Toro Martinez of Puerto Rico
- Chief Finish Judge: Luis Baptista of Portugal
- Assistant to Finish Judge: Lori Chaplin of Australia
- Assistant to Finish Judge: Ryujiro Hagiwara of Japan
- Assistant to Finish Judge: Osamu Kameda of Japan
- Chief Timekeeper: Andrea Prayer of Italy
- Assistant to Chief Timekeeper: Pedro Brandao of Portugal
- Assistant to Chief Timekeeper: Yuichi Tateyama of Japan
- Assistant to Chief Timekeeper: Teruko Onuki of Japan
- Athletes Representative: to be decided
- Referee Reserve: Yew Siang Soh of Malaysia
- Media and VIP Assistance: to be decided
- Doping Control: to be decided
- Safety and Medical Team: to be decided
- Safety Officer: to be decided
- FINA Medical Delegate: to be decided
- Meet Manager: Samuel Greetham of Great Britain
- Local Organizer: to be decided
25 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Finalists:
1. Xin Xin (China)
2. Haley Anderson (USA)
3. Rachele Bruni (Italy)
4. Lara Grangeon (France)
5. Ana Marcela Cunha (Brazil)
6. Ashley Twichell (USA)
7. Kareena Lee (Australia)
8. Finnia Wunram (Germany)
9. Leonie Beck (Germany)
10. Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands)
11. Anna Olasz (Hungary) [shown above]
12. Paula Ruiz Bravo (Spain)
13. Kate Sanderson (Canada)
14. Alice Dearing (Great Britain)
15. Angelica Andre (Portugal) [shown below]
16. Cecilia Biagioli (Argentina)
17. Anastasia Kirpichnikova (Russian)
18. Samantha Arevalo (Ecuador)
19. Spela Perse (Slovenia)
20. Yumi Kida (Japan)
21. Michelle Weber (South Africa)
22. Paola Perez (Venezuela)
23. Krystyna Panchishko (Ukraine)
24. Li-Shan Chantal Liew (Singapore)
25. Souad Nefissa Cherouati (Algeria)
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