"Maybe the sport needs to die"; "Robbed"-Fans react to Michael Roth's disqualification at AAC Champs 2024 after winning 400m with a Personal best

Michael Roth of the University of Texas at San Antonio ran a personal best of 45.78s to win the 400m at the 2024 American Athletic Conference (AAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. However, to his disappointment, Roth faced a disqualification after the organizers decided to nullify his results for his unsporting conduct at the event.

Before crossing the finish line, he was captured making some gesture to another athlete which resulted in his disqualification from the event. Tre'Sean Bouie (46.07s), Shevioe Reid (46.48s), and Jaiden Ventour (47.15s) eventually secured the first, second, and third positions at the event.

An X (formerly Twitter) account named Track & Field Gazette, which posts updates on the sport, shared a glimpse of the 400m event where Roth and other athletes can be seen competing in the race as the former received loud cheers from the fans.

However, the track and field community expressed their displeasure over Michael Roth’s disqualification. One fan stated that the sport perhaps needed to die and shared a GIF to show his sentiments, stating:

“Maybe the sport needs to die…”

Another track and field fan wrote that Roth was robbed of his medal, adding:

“Robbed”

Another fan said that the organizers of track and field meetings needed to stop doing this and let the athletes have fun.

“This is college we have to stop this rubbish, let the kids have fun man they trained hard for this”, they wrote.

Here are some other reactions that the video generated among fans-

“I hated that for him because it’s on his home turf where he wasn’t even expected to win it but he wanted it bad and went and Got it but to get it took like that was CRAZY,” a fan tweeted.

“Forgot our sport wants us to be robots…”, another fan chimed in.

“Weak. He won the race fairly. It’s not classy but disqualifying him is too harsh of a penalty. The conference needs to overturn this,” another fan commented.

A look into Michael Roth’s top accomplishments

Representing the University of Texas, Michael Roth made his debut at the 2022 Conference USA Indoor Championships where he finished seventh in the 400m finals with a time of 48.58s.

In the 2024 outdoor season, he competed at the Beach Invitational and Texas Invitational in the 400m where he came first and third respectively clocking times of 47.00s and 46.59s. In the 200m, he made his appearance at the Texas A&M Invitational and Pacific Coast Invitational with times of 21.47s and 21.12s.

Michael Roth was also a member of Canada's squad at the 2024 World Athletics Relays held in the Bahamas in the 4x400m mixed relay event.