Today during the first day of European Championships in apnea I swam 16x50im in 9‘07‘‘97, which was the fastest time among all competitors and new world record.
By the way, other team protested my performance and the protest was approved by judges, that finally led to my disqualification.
After a swimmer finish the race, she must show an „OK“ sign and watch direct to the judge. My mistake consists in the way I showed the „OK“. I made a circle with my thumb and my middle finger. It led to disqualification, because the rules clearly say, that „an athlete must use first two fingers to show the sign“. The next mistake I made, I didn‘t watch direct to the judge enough time. After showing the sign with wrong fingers, I began to celebrate to early, turning my face to the coach and other people on the pool deck. The judge showed the white card, but as I mentioned before, the protest led to disqualification later.
I believe that sport is sport, and rules are made identical for every athlete. So I tend to agree with the judgement. It was my fault, which led to disqualification.
I had a great support from team Russia and other national teams, especially team Croatia, who tried to recover my performance. I really appreciate this!
Congratulations for all the performers in this hardest discipline in apnea, especially for my friend and gold medalist Max Poschart, who not only showed a magnificent time of 9 minutes and 10 seconds, but have been wining this race many years in a row. Good luck on Saturday!
