Pedro Pichardo took to social media on Wednesday to accuse Jordan Diaz of cheating in the triple jump final at the European Championships in Rome, where the Portuguese triple jumper clocked 18.04m. won the silver medal behind the Spaniardending at an impressive 18.18m.
“I have never had to go on social media to justify winning or losing, I have never had to use illegal substances to win, I have never changed my toes to jump further, I have never cheated on anyone or used “influence,” to win the competition… Yes, yesterday was great!! But I would like European Athletics, World Athletics and the judges responsible to provide a quick response and clarification about what happened on the hill at this time. The Spanish athlete did it. Big mark, in a competition of this level it is not normal to make a big mark with the electronic ruler turned off, the athlete leaves the sandbox celebrating without even realizing where he landed,” maybe read an excerpt from Pishardo’s message.
Read Pedro Pichardo’s post in full:
“I have always been a very fair and honest athlete when it comes to competition, I have never had the need to go on social media to justify winning or losing, I have never had to use illegal substances to win, I have never changed. my toes are jumping further, I have never cheated on anyone or used “influence” to win a competition… Yesterday was great, yes!!
But I would like European Athletics, World Athletics and the judges in charge to provide a quick response and clarification about what happened on the hill when a Spanish athlete achieves such a high score. This is not normal at competitions of this level. make a large mark with the electronic ruler turned off, the athlete leaves the sandbox celebrating without even realizing where he landed since the ruler was already turned off. It seems that he already knew that he had overtaken me, even before the measurement and without turning on the electronic ruler…
We athletes know that without a certificate it is difficult to determine whether a jump is good or not, but he already knew!!! Why was he tied at 17.96m and not at the big jump? A minute after his big jump, the ruler started working again, and coincidentally, I jumped next. How is this possible? Why was the electronic ruler turned off at that moment? How do we know it really was 18.18 meters?”