The moment that 16-year-old Clara Adams’ CIF State Championship dreams went up in smoke was captured on video, as the controversy surrounding the teen’s post-race celebration has made national headlines.
Adams, a sprinter from North Salinas High School in Salinas, Calif. paid homage to a celebration made famous by American sprint icon Maurice Greene by taking a fire extinguisher from her father and spraying her spikes after winning the 400-meter event Saturday.
CIF officials didn’t take too kindly and disqualified her, stripping her of her state title, and that moment was visible in a video shared by KSBW.
The teen could be seen standing in the infield of the track away from other participants as she bent over and started extinguishing her shoes with the fire extinguisher.
Several people who appeared to be CIF officials looked on, with one almost immediately approaching her after the celebration and leading her away.
The celebration was ultimately deemed unsportsmanlike and she was disqualified.
The decision to disqualify Adams came moments before she was slated to run in the 200-meter event, and due to the ruling she was not allowed to run the race, which she had been of the favorites to win.
Adams’ father, David, insisted that “the opponents were gone” when she used the fire extinguisher and said that CIF officials “made it about them.”
“The crowd went crazy, they loved it, the CIF booth went crazy, they loved it. But those few guys in those jackets took offense to it, didn’t like it, and made a decision based off emotions,” he told the TV station.
Adams does have one big supporter in her corner, with Greene himself indicating that he was happy that she did his celebration and felt that she should get her title back.
Greene used the celebration when he won the 100-meter dash in 2004 at the Home Depot Invitational.
“When I heard, cause it happened, and then people just started calling me ‘This girl who just ran the 400 did your celebration,’ I was like huh? What?” Greene said. “If it was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her.”