Disastrous Skeet Shooting Controversy Robs Great Britain Of Gold Medal After Horrible Misjudgment

Great Britain was robbed of a gold medal in skeet shooting at the Olympics in Paris on Saturday. Amber Rutter was relegated to silver after a horrible misjudgment left her at the center of controversy.

She should’ve had a chance to keep competing instead of being awarded the loss.

Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile had a two-shot lead over Rutter going into the final round, only to give them back on the final four. The competition was tied after regulation so it went to a shoot-off.

Rules of a shoot-off in skeet shooting are as simple as it sounds. Each athlete rotates shots until someone misses. It could last one round. It could last 100 rounds.

Either way, the first person to miss loses. If both athletes miss on the same shot, they will start back with a clean slate. And so on and so forth.

Rutter and Crovetto traded five additional shots. Controversy struck (or didn’t strike?!) on the sixth.

The representative from Great Britain stepped up to the mat first. She took a shot and clearly clipped the clay to put the pressure back on Chile. However, Rutter’s shot was deemed a miss.

Judges completely bungled the call, which led to an immediate protest.

Replay shows that Rutter hit her target. A piece of the clay split off in the air. There is no debate about it.

But the Olympics failed to implement a video review system to skeet shooting despite all of the cameras. As a result, the egregious misjudgment was the final ruling from the referees.

Rutter’s hit was incorrectly deemed a miss, which put the entire match back in the hands of her opponent. Crovetto hit the clay on her next shot and was awarded Chile’s first gold medal in 16 years, even though the competition should’ve continued.