Running star disqualified and stripped of state title after 'unsportsmanlike' act following win
Topics: California, News, Sport, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Oceanside Dolphins Track Club/YouTube
Topics: California, News, Sport, US News
A young track star has been left devastated after she was stripped of her title.
The California State Track & Field Championships took place over the weekend, which saw trans athlete AB Hernandez come first in first in both the girls' high jump and triple jump.
Donald Trump, someone who has been advocating for trans athletes to be prohibited from competing in women's sports, has since addressed Hernandez's win.
"A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so," he wrote on Truth Social on June 3.
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Trump proceeded to call Governor Gavin Newsom 'Gavin Newscum' as he threatened 'large scale fines' on the state.
But that wasn't the only controversy to happen at the school state championships as another young athlete was stripped of her title for her supposedly 'unsportsmanlike' behavior.
North Salinas High School sophomore Clara Adams won the girls 400m sprint and once she crossed the finish line she went over to her dad (who is also her coach) who passed her over a small fire extinguisher.
Moving away from the crowds and going onto the grass, Clara proceeded to spray her feet with the extinguisher as a way of paying homage to Olympic gold medallist Maurice Greene.
Videos of the sports event show that shortly after Clara did this she was escorted away by competition officials. This then sparked her dad to jump over onto the track and see what was going on.
Clara went on to be disqualified, meaning she was unable to partake in her 200m race as planned, and had her winning title for the 400m was stripped from her by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). The whole thing has left the high schooler devastated.
Speaking about the ordeal, Clara told Mercury News: "I’m disappointed and I feel robbed. I am in shock. They [officials] yelled at me and told me, ‘We’re not letting you on the podium.’ They took my moment away from me."
Clara's father David Adams has now suggested that the decision to take the girl's title away was racially motivated.
"She was on the other side of the wall," he said of the moment Clara sprayed her shoes. "I told her to step off the track. She did not spray her shoes on the track. We have protested the decision. I feel it was racially motivated."
UNILAD have approached the CIF for comment.