Track and field athletes voiced their support of Gabriele Grunewald and their displeasure with USATF after Grunewald was disqualified in the women's 3000 meters at the USA Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Grunewald crossed the finish line first in the 3000 meter Saturday afternoon, but was later disqualified, apparently for making contact with Jordan Hasay on the bell lap. USATF said in a statement that after an initial ruling that there was no infraction, "The Jury of Appeals then reviewed additional video evidence and reversed their intitial ruling, disqualifying Gabriele Grunewald for a field-of-play infraction impeding Jordan Hasay."
Grunewald took to twitter later that night and wrote:
Lopez Lomong and Will Leer, who finished 1-2 in the men's 1500, respectively, both voiced their opinion during a live television interview on NBC Sports.
"I would be remiss if I didn't take this moment to say how badly I feel for Gabriele Anderson (Grunewald)," Leer said, "and how much I think that is a disgrace. USA Track and Field needs to get their act together on that one."
Several fellow track athletes followed suit, tweeting support for Grunewald and their displeasure with the ruling. Here is a sampling of those thoughts.
Other elites who took to Twitter to react to Grunewald's DQ include: Lauren Fleshman, Geena Gall, David Torrence, Dwight Phillips, Adam Goucher, Sara Hall, Kate Grace, Alysia Montaño, and Health - Injuries. (Click the links to view each tweet.)
