By Steve Keating
QUILLOTA, Chile (Reuters) – The Pan American Games show jumping competition ended in chaos on Friday, with Canada arguing a judging error had denied Amy Millar a place on the podium, triggering protests and appeals.
Millar, the daughter of 10-time Canadian Olympian Ian Millar, had appeared to have won the bronze medal after what looked a clean ride but was later ruled to have clipped a barrier finishing sixth.
Video showed that the barrier did drop but the Canadian protest argued it did so after Millar had crossed the finish line and completed her round.
After more than two hours of deliberation the judges ruled Millar had dislodged a fence and the podium would remain unchanged with Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha taking gold ahead of Americans Kent Farrington and McLain Ward.
Asked by Reuters about the ruling, an emotional Millar sobbed one word “McLain” as she exited the venue.
Officials were left scrambling and the medal ceremony team left standing under a blazing sun while the Canadian contingent gathered, looking at videos and talking on their mobile phones before eventually lodging an official protest.
The U.S. later filed a counter appeal and could be seen engaged in an animated conversation with the Canadian team outside of the judges’ meeting.
When the decision was finally made, the medals were presented in an empty stadium.
“We just went all together, including the Canadian team, to watch the video, the video clearly shows she touched the fence,” Ward, a five-time Olympian and double gold medallist told Reuters. “It’s not a question.
“Yes the rail fell later on the course because it was on the edge of the cup but it doesn’t matter if you are a stride away from the jump or eight strides, if you are timer-to-timer that’s the rule.
“It wasn’t a protestable situation anyway, it was field of play.
“But I wanted to see it with my own eyes, that I felt good about the situation or I would have made a statement to the contrary.
“It was very clear it did touch the fence.”
Ward had no problem with Canada filing a protest but was happy officials made the decision they did.
“When you are riding you sometimes interpret things a certain way and I understand that,” said Ward, who earlier helped the U.S. to the team gold medal and a Paris Olympic quota spot.
“You’re fighting, you’re competing all those things but the reason I wanted to see it is I wanted to be clear in my own mind that the horse touched the fence.
“Hats off to the officials for getting it right.
“Very difficult situation there are variables in our sport and I am glad we were able to work through it and I feel like the result in the end was correct.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Quillota. Editing by Toby Davis)
