Two 'medalists' disqualified in Olympic men's 200m final

BEIJING (AP) Wallace Spearmon celebrated and danced as he made his way around the track, the American flag draped around his shoulders after his apparent bronze medal finish in the 200-meter final.

Then reality crashed his party.

Still on the track, Spearmon was told he had been disqualified - he had stepped outside his lane - in the Olympic final won Wednesday night by Usain Bolt in a world-record 19.30 seconds.

Goodbye bronze medal, hello mess.

Spearmon was stunned by the news, saying, "Huh? Me!? What?!" before pulling the flag off his shoulders, bunching it up and quickly departing the track.

American Shawn Crawford became the new bronze medalist.

That wouldn't last long.

The U.S. lodged a pro forma protest on Spearmon's behalf. In reviewing the race, team officials said they noticed that silver medalist Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles also stepped outside his lane. The team appealed that result, and track officials agreed.

With Martina also now disqualified, Crawford was bumped up to the silver and fellow American Walter Dix got the bronze.

Crawford, the defending Olympic champion, couldn't believe the confusion.

"They say Wallace Spearmon stepped out, the second place guy stepped out. Well, I hope Usain stepped out, too," he said with a grin. "Then I'd go home with the gold."

No such luck.

Still, Crawford felt horrible for Spearmon, one of his suite mates during the games.

"I'm sharing in his disappointment right now," said Crawford. "I know he's worked hard for this, wanted to come here and medal just like anybody else. To cross the line, and know that you have the medal and then it's taken away from you? It's not good."

Crawford said he wanted to give the medal to his teammate, but knew Spearmon wouldn't accept it.

To watch Spearmon celebrate like he'd won and then have to trudge off the track only made it worse.

"If it was me, I would have broke down and cried right there in front of the worldwide television," Crawford said.

Instead, Spearmon retreated from the track as he waited to hear if his own appeal would be successful.

It wasn't.

Martina happily cruised through the media area, only to be notified of the protest.

"I'm not worried about that," he said. "I did nothing wrong."

Track officials didn't see it the same way, disqualifying him and opening the way for Dix to earn his second medal of the games. The U.S. Olympic trials winner also captured the bronze during Bolt's record-setting run in the 100.

Crawford didn't know how to take the news.

He definitely didn't know how to celebrate.

"I just stood there like, 'Man, what do I do?'" he said. "I'll just take the medal, and I'll go home with it."