Teen sprinter’s Olympic dream ends after heartbreaking false start

Spare a thought for Steven Sabino of Mozambique, who found his Olympics over on Saturday before he had even competed.

The 18-year-old sprinter was the victim of a false start disqualification in the 100-meter sprint, getting shown a red card after he jumped out of the blocks before the start gun sounded.

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“We went into a set position and I heard a bang,” a sobbing Sabino told reporters. “I don’t know where it came from. Probably the pole vault. I don’t know. I heard a bang, the kind of bang that you hear when the electronic gun goes off.”

Track and field has a zero-tolerance policy for false starts, so official Vadim Nagmatov refused Sabino’s ask to run the race under protest.

“They didn’t even hear what I had to say,” Sabino said. “I sacrificed everything for this.”

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Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu was also disqualified due to a false start, but planned to appeal.

His hope was to be given a chance to run by himself and qualify for the semifinal on time.

“Right now, I’m acting as if I’m running again,” he said.

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Sabino said it was his first ever false start.

It came at the worst possible moment.

He is still attending school in South Africa and is in 12th grade, while also having trained for the Paris Games.

“My marks at practice were showing what I wanted to see,” he said. “I thought this was my opportunity to show the world that I am capable and unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”

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