Alyfantis loses out on silver medal for not using the proper kick

Breaststroke champion gets disqualified and suspects a conspiracy

Romanos Alyfantis finished second yesterday in the 100-meter breaststroke final of the World Swimming Championships in a short, 25-meter pool in Shanghai, China, but seconds later he was disqualified for allegedly using the butterfly kick with his feet in the last few meters instead of the breaststroke technique.

The 20-year-old Greek, who thought for a moment he had won Greece’s first-ever medal in such a competition, protested his innocence: “I cannot understand why they have disqualified me. How can they let me swim in the same way in the qualifying and the semifinal rounds and when I reach for a medal they disqualify me?” he asked in an interview on the sport.gr website.

Instead, the silver medal went to Australian Brenton Rickard. “It seems the Australians did not like losing to a Greek, and we all know how powerful the Australians are in global swimming,” Alyfantis stated. The gold medal went to Ukraine’s Igor Lisogor in a new championship record (58.14 seconds).