Withages Clarifies Confusion Over Heike Kemmer's Start

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Withages Clarifies Confusion Over Heike Kemmer’s Start

Although the timer on the arena Jumbotron read "-1" when Heike Kemmer of Germany entered the arena last night to start her Grand Prix Special, Aug. 16 in Hong Kong, China, FEI delegate Mariette Withages said she actually entered within the 45 seconds allowed after the bell is rung.

"It was borderline, but she still had 1 second left," said Withages. "One of the volunteers hit a button, and the system recognized that as a bug, and it became -1 on the scoreboard. We went to the broadcasting and could really see that she had come in on time. It was close, but it was in time."

PUBLISHED

August 16, 2008
10:00 pm

WORDS BY

Beth Rasin

Although the timer on the arena Jumbotron read “-1” when Heike Kemmer of Germany entered the arena last night to start her Grand Prix Special, Aug. 16 in Hong Kong, China, FEI delegate Mariette Withages said she actually entered within the 45 seconds allowed after the bell is rung.

“It was borderline, but she still had 1 second left,” said Withages. “One of the volunteers hit a button, and the system recognized that as a bug, and it became -1 on the scoreboard. We went to the broadcasting and could really see that she had come in on time. It was close, but it was in time.”

Although there were rumors that the U.S. team had protested the start, since Kemmer’s score was so close to Steffen Peters in the battle for the individual bronze, Withages said there was no protest.