The California high school track star disqualified from the CIF State Championships for celebrating her win with a fire extinguisher broke down as she spoke of the moment her dreams went up in smoke.
“I worked so hard for that title,” a tearful Clara Adams, 16, told KSBW amid the ongoing controversy.
The North Salinas High School sophomore was stripped of her state championship title over the weekend after she paid homage to an Olympic gold medalist Maurice Greene just moments after winning her 400-meter event.
A viral clip showed the excited teen running over and taking a fire extinguisher from her proud father before she started spraying off her spikes.
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) officials ended up disqualifying the teen sprinter and stripping her of the title after deeming the celebratory stunt unsportsmanlike.
Several people who appeared to be CIF officials could be seen watching on as looked on as Clara sprayed her shoes.
One of them approached her soon after the celebration and led her away, the footage shows.
“I don’t know what’s going through my mind right now,” the teen told the Mercury News in the aftermath.
“I’m disappointed and I feel robbed. I am in shock. They [officials] yelled at me and told me, ‘We’re not letting you on the podium.’ They took my moment away from me.”
Her father, who is also her coach, is adamant his daughter did nothing wrong — insisting that she wasn’t near any of her fellow competitors when she carried out the stunt.
“When she blew the fire extinguisher, the opponents were gone,” her dad, David, said in the KSBW interview.
“That was our moment of celebration, and 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.”
The decision came just moments before she was slated to run in the 200-meter event, which she had been of the favorites to win.
The ruling meant she wasn’t allowed to compete.
The decision to disqualify the track star immediately sparked widespread outrage.
Maurice Greene, the sprinting icon who made the celebration famous, was among those who urged officials to overturn the decision.
“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.”
Under CIF’s code of conduct, athletes are expected to “be a good sport, teach and model class, be gracious in victory and accept defeat with dignity; encourage student-athletes to give fallen opponents a hand, compliment extraordinary performance, and show sincere respect in pre- and post-game rituals.”