LAST week, coaches, technical officials and athletes found themselves walking into a controversy at the Malaysia Games. And it was over what seemed to be an easy task of counting and making sure athletes walk 12 and a half laps at the National Stadium.
Yet, the counting turned out to be more complicated than expected. Nine walkers were reported to have done an extra round of 400m in the women's 5,000m.
From the complaints of several coaches from state teams, it seemed that the technical officials "forgot to ring the bell" that signals the final lap for the walkers.
The coaches were not amused though as they are concerned that the "slow times", allegedly due to the "extra two minutes", can affect the athletes' chances of being selected for national youth teams.
Were the coaches' imagination running wild with their claim of an "extra lap?" But bear in mind that they are the experts and they should know what they are talking about.
They usually monitor every lap that their athletes do, and they claimed that they knew something was wrong when the lap times just didn't add up. Amid the controversy, the Malaysia Games technical committee said it had investigated the matter, and found that the walkers did 5,000m and not 5,400m as alleged.
Though they spoke out strongly on the issue, the coaches did not walk the talk as there was no official protest from them to the organisers. They felt this won't change the outcome of the race.
They should have gone the extra mile, make an official complaint and have an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter. The appeal fee is only RM300, and their state athletics associations, who have already spent much more in training athletes, should have directed the coaches to lodge a protest.
They should retrace their steps, and if there are missteps, check where they went wrong. In future, we don't have to go down this path again.
As athletics events are less complicated than Formula One racing which has 50 over laps, do our technical officials make mistakes?
Yes, it happens sometimes. A technical official, who is not involved in the ongoing Malaysia Games, told Timesport that cases of athletes being made to run one lap more or one lap less, had happened in the 5,000m and 10,000m at national level.
But he said if there is an electronic lap counter, not just the usual counting by two technical officials, there shouldn't be any bungles. The technical committee has also issued a statement that the electronic lap counter did not break down during the women's 5,000m race as alleged.
However, even machines are not perfect as in the English Premier League, VAR has been slammed by football managers.
The vastly experienced coaches at the Malaysia Games wouldn't invite ridicule by speaking out if nothing was amiss. They work with stopwatches and they keep tabs on every lap.
But for the sake of Malaysian athletics, coaches and technical officials should sideline their differences, and share expertise on improving the organisation of races.
Chan Wai Kong is a former NST sports editor