PARIS, France — American swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified and denied the bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter individual medley on Saturday at the Paris Olympics.
Walsh, who finished third, was disqualified for not completing the backstroke leg on her back and turning too soon, according to World Aquatics, which cited a referee. She declined to stop in the mixed zone to speak with reporters.
The TV broadcast showed the illegal turn happened when she was going from backstroke to breaststroke.
It was a bitter blow for Walsh, whose younger sister, Gretchen, has won a gold medal and two silvers in Paris.
Fellow American Kate Douglass was second for silver in the race won by 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh. It’s her third gold medal of the Paris Olympics.