Cole Hocker walked out of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships with pride. But not without getting his heart broken. In the semifinals of the 1500m, the Olympic champion received a disqualification for jostling with German athlete Robert Farken. However, in the 5000m, he redeemed himself. But getting yourself out of the impact of that DQ and then winning the world championship takes courage and strength. He uncovered the aftermath of the disqualification with his social media account going haywire.
“That night of the DQ, I opened Instagram just literally like by habit at this point, and like boom right in front of me, it’s like DQ over my face,” Hocker said in a podcast with Citius MAG. He saw his social media account swamped with news and videos about the DQ incident. He was DQ’ed for violating rule 17.2.2 of World Athletics, which reads, “if another athlete is found by the Referee to be responsible for the jostling or obstruction, such athlete (or their team) shall be liable to disqualification from that event.”
Though the USATF contested the decision, the governing body rejected their appeal. He said, “I saw that I was like, all right, I gotta get off, and it was kind of the same mindset as like any emotion I have towards this, I want it to be used productively,” stated Hocker. Moreover, scrolling through photos, inevitably reading the comments, and considering many opinions did nothing for him. At the same time, Hocker acknowledged everyone’s support, calling the DQ unjustified, but their demands for revenge in the 5k added pressure on him.
“It’s like, well, now like like yes I also think that like I’m gonna try as hard as I can but I know like the story is a lot easier than actually doing it. And so all of that would just it would have been too much, and I knew that was going on, and so I just like shut it off,” he told Chavez, the host of Citius MAG. Social media could take you by surprise and get you into a downward spiral with the looming negativity. But Hocker quickly altered his mindset and turned to YouTube to watch videos.
The 5000m World Champion said, “And yeah just like just like watched a bunch of YouTube that was not related to running, and yeah, I just I hung out with my family, and then yeah, completely shut off social media, and so yeah, it was extremely helpful. And I’m like it really it doesn’t exist if you don’t look at it.” Need some time alone? YouTube. Need to socialize? Family. He had it sorted. Hocker chose to educate himself instead of getting caught up in the rants of social media users.
When Chavez asked what he’d been watching on YouTube, he laughed and admitted he’d been binging history videos – first American history and U.S. presidents before somehow winding down a rabbit hole about Japanese history. “I actually learned a lot,” he said. The DQ was highly controversial; not just the fans, but even Hocker’s agents and USATF spoke against it.
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From USATF to Flynn Sports: Words against Cole Hocker’s DQ
The disqualification didn’t please the USATF. “We are disappointed by the decision to disqualify Olympic champion Cole Hocker from the men’s 1500m final,” said the United States Track & Field team. They also claimed they had a strong case for appeal, but it was rejected. Hocker’s training group, Team Sova, made an Instagram post about the same. It was critical of the ruling, claiming Hocker became guilty of “wanting it more.”
Under this post, his agents called the officials who DQ’ed him as amateurs. “We want to be a professional sport but are directed by amateur officials who can’t see the value of the world seeing the best 1500m race in the world,” Flynn Sports commented. It was a tough, physical race, and Canada’s Foster Malleck and Italy’s Federico Riva ended up falling mid-race after getting tangled in the pack. What went wrong with Cole Hocker?
As the Olympic champion came into the final straight, he was right behind Germany’s Robert Farken with the Netherlands’ Stefan Nillessen on his left. Trying to find a way through, he pushed against Farken with his right arm and held it across him. Farken and Nillessen dropped back to 9th and 10th. On the other hand, Hocker joined the final with Great Britain’s Neil Gourley, Kerr, and Jake Wightman. But despite the DQ, his focus ultimately became the 5000 meters.
He said, “Extremely disappointed not to get the chance to defend my 1500m title this year. As always, championships are unpredictable, but there’s no time to feel sorry for myself. Looking forward to the first round of the 5k this Friday.” And it was this decision that saw him in the final meters of the 5000m run.
He went from 12th at the bell to first at the line, closing in a ridiculous 52.6 final lap and 25.5 last 200 to win the World title. Justice served for Hocker, one must believe. What do you think of his performance, and what about the DQ? Do you think it was justified?