Shaunae Miller’s dive won her a gold medal and a lot of Twitter hate

It was the dive that divided Twitter... but it was 100 percent legal! Let’s delve into ‘DiveGate.’

On Monday night, America sprinter Allyson Felix lost the 400m by just 0.07 of a second after Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas dove chest first across the finish line for one of the most insane race endings we’ve ever witnessed. Twitter (specifically, American Sports Twitter) was all like, not so fast, that’s cheating!!! BUT, Rule 164 of the 2016-17 International Association of Athletic Federations rulebook states:

The athletes shall be placed in the order in which any part of their bodies (i.e. torso, as distinguished from the head, neck, arms, legs, hands or feet) reaches the vertical plane of the nearer edge of the finish line as defined above.

Former 200M and 400M Olympic Champion Michael Johnson chimed in as well.

And we’ve seen this unconventional tactic before in an Olympic final, but it’s easy to forget when an American athlete benefited from it. At the 2008 games in Beijing, David Neville intentionally dove at the finish to edge the Bahamas’ Chris Brown for the bronze. Miller said after the race that the move wasn’t planned, adding: “What was in my mind was, I had to get a gold medal. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground.”

As for Felix, in what is likely her last Olympics, she picked up the silver, making her the most decorated American female athlete with 7 medals--surpassing none other than Jackie Joyner-Kersee. But if Felix had taken the plunge, we may just be talking about how she’s the first U.S. woman in track history to win five gold medals instead of how she was robbed by a wild finish. No pain, no gain! She’ll get another shot at gold (and a little redemption?) in the 4x400 relay this weekend.