You present a team of 5 runners for every relay – 4 starters and a reserve. Abdul Rasheed was listed as the reserve and Joe Paul as anchor leg runner as always.
But the rule says, before you make a change to the first 4 to bring in your reserve (for whatever reason)…
you must notify organizers AT LEAST ONE HOUR before the race.
GAA made the decision to replace Joe Paul with Abdul Rasheed so the former can concentrate on the 200m final later tonight. However, they did not notify organizers of the last minute change, violating the rule.
We let these boys down. They were contenders for medals. Just spoke to Azamati – he’s inconsolable. They trained all year for this. The coaches had one job. Just one job. They slept on the job. This is a major f@k up. Unpardonable.