Vid halvåttatiden på fredagsmorgonen kom till slut jurysvaret på Sveriges protest mot att Johan Rogestedt diskvalificerats i 1500 m-försöken. Därmed blir det ingen finalplats för Stenungsunds-löparen som ursprungligen var trea i sitt heat på 3:40.59.
Johan sprang i mål som trea i sitt heat, en hundradel före spanjoren Bustos som gick till vidare på tid. Belgien lämnade in en protest mot att Johan ska ha stört spanjoren när han passerade honom på upploppet och diskningen av Johan betydde att belgaren Kimeli i heat tre gick till final på tid eftersom Bustos då flyttades upp ett steg.
– Juryn tittade på filmen men kom inte till någon annan slutsats och Johan är diskvalificerad. Detta går inte att överklaga, säger Mikael Norman på Svenska Friidrottsförbundet.
– Jag tycker att det är ett väldigt underligt och osportsligt beslut.
Så här kommenterade Johan själv på händelsen Facebook
Ran a very good tactical race yesterday. Made it to the finals, but was later disqualified by the jury and Belgian representatives.
Very sad this happened. Got back from injuries in 2015, and have really gotten into shape lately. This disqualification is definitely due to lack of sportsmanship and moral values. No Belgian athletes were in the incident they refer to, and with the fact that it’s 1500m in a European Championship in consideration, the ”obstruction” I apparently did on the finish line is so vague and obscure that future juries will have big problems if countries starts to use this specific occurrence to disqualify runners.
I’ve worked so hard many year for this, and to see my dream of my first European senior final being crushed by the jury (who indeed seem to care for their neighbours in the south) who must be very new to the concepts of tactical 1500m heats in championships really hurts.
With this situation in mind, it’s apparently so that I can file complaints against anyone in any heat. The consequence then is that a podium contender can try to get any big rivals disqualified after the heats, even if they didn’t even race against each other! It doesn’t make sense, and especially in this case when what happened took place on the finish line and didn’t change ANYTHING for me nor the Spanish as we both advanced to the next round.
Thanks for all messages and support I’ve received!
Johan Rogestedt
Se loppet och incidenten precis före mål 4:22 in i loppet (två kameravinklar) på youtube
/Jonas Hedman
