One Way to Win a Race

[taiwan_girl]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/high-school-runner-baton-charge-virginia/story?id=119733312

A high school track athlete faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery after a now-viral video showed her hitting a competitor's head with her baton during a relay event.

[Horace]

We have no idea what might have been said by the runner who passed on the outside lane. Did she provoke the other young lady? It is impossible to say - and we may never know. Let's not pass judgment here. Let's instead, pass the baton. Just after we use it to beat the hell out of anybody who judges. I never judge.

[taiwan_girl]

@Horace 555

[89th]

At first glance it looks intentional, perhaps it was. There are some good AI-enhanced (not joking) videos that play it in smoother motion.

I saw an interview with the girl (who did the hitting) and she seemed genuinely sorry and that it was a fluke accident. I can kind of see that, the other girl does cut a little in front causing the girl behind to stumble and and throw her arm up to balance, but I think she exaggerated her arm movement a bit as she came back down resulting in the strike. So, 50% accident, 50% preventable.

A key piece of evidence the news is missing (clearly I like to analyze videos) is after the girl is hit and stumbles off the track, the "hitting" girl does reach out as she runs by as if to say not sarcastically "sorry about that!" which lends credence to the accident argument.

[Horace]

An arrest has been made.

Link to video

Imagine if this involved one white athlete and one black. Either way, we'd have a conflagration.

[Copper]

The guy who writes the local high school sports column (the girl arrested is local) says the hit was an accident, unintended.

He has a reasonable argument, but I'm not sure.

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/03/11/larry-rubama-did-a-portsmouth-runner-intentionally-strike-her-opponent-i-dont-think-so/

[Horace]

I am not convinced.