British shooter Amber Rutter said on Tuesday she was owed an apology from the sport’s global governing body after she missed out on an Olympic gold medal in controversial circumstances.
Rutter had to settle instead for silver in the women’s skeet final on August 4 at the Paris Games after she was ruled to have missed a shot, even though television replays appeared to show she had clipped the target. Both Rutter and her coach made a protest at the time, but this fell on deaf ears.
Rutter and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid were tied after three rounds of the four-round shoot-off. The 26-year-old Rutter has now repeated her call for a “fair playing field” in her sport, either as a result of better judging or the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, which is used in other shooting competitions overseen by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
After Rutter questioned the referees’ call, Crovetto Chadid struck with both her next shots to clinch gold. Rutter wrote on Instagram she did not want to get “sucked into the negativity of what could have been” but said she felt compelled to speak out to help “spark change” in her sport.
“Every athlete, especially at the Games, deserves to compete on a fair playing field,” she said. “Whether that be through experienced and exceptional judging, or new technologies such as VAR which we have always had in place previously at ISSF competitions.
“At this point in time, I can’t imagine a huge amount will be done, and that is not what I am looking for. However, I do believe some accountability needs to be taken to acknowledge and an apology for the incorrect decision ultimately costing me an opportunity of winning an Olympic gold medal. And furthermore a plan to prevent something like this happening in the future.”
