Canada's Evan Dunfee loses, then wins, then loses bronze in 50 km racewalk

Canadian race walker Evan Dunfee was briefly an Olympic medalist Friday. Dunfee was in strong position heading into the final two kilometres of the 50-kilometre race walk, but then appeared to take significant contact from Japan's Hirooki Arai in a collision. Dunfee wound up crossing the line in 3 hours 41 minutes 38 seconds, which improved his Canadian record, but was 14 seconds behind Arai. Athletics Canada then appealed, and Dunfee was awarded the bronze after the on-site technical delegate reviewed the video and disqualified Arai for the bump, but the Japanese team then appealed, and the Jury of Appeals overturned the disqualification, returning Arai to bronze and bumping Dunfee out of the medals. Dunfee later issued a statement that he decided not to appeal further, "as I believe the right decision stood."

Here's video of what happened from CBC:

And Athletics Canada's statement:

This is an interesting controversy, as racewalking has very thorough sets of judges and judging standards (PDF available here), but they're mostly about preventing loss of contact with the ground (what differentiates the sport from running and makes it seem odd to some viewers) and about what kind of refreshment stations are permissible. There doesn't seem to be too much about direct contact between athletes, which is what happened here. From what's been reported, it looks like the higher official overruled the official who was there on the ground and intially disqualified Arai, but there doesn't seem to be a clear set of standards for what is and isn't a disqualification over contact with another athlete.

Losing this medal is a hard break for Dunfee, who had a great race. He also supported French athlete Yohan Diniz, who collapsed mid-race but then battled to the finish, giving him a supportive arm as he passed:

Dunfee led for nearly 10 kilometres before being passed by reigning world champion Matej Toth of Slovakia (who eventually won gold) near the 39-kilometre mark and then passed by silver medalist Jared Tallent of Australia and Arai. That led to the eventual collision with Arai near the finish line. Dunfee seemed in distress after the collision, wobbling over the finish line and receiving immediate medical attention. His parents were there to cheer him on, as were other members of the Athletics Canada team.

And Dunfee received congratulations from across Canada after he was awarded the medal, including one from prime minister Justin Trudeau:

Unfortunately for Dunfee, that didn't last thanks to the Japanese appeal. Still, he received support from other athletes and from across Canada despite the judges' decision, with many criticizing it as well:

Despite having the bronze medal taken away from him, Dunfee should still be proud of his race and his Canadian record. He's been a great representative for Canada, too, and has earned praise for his long-standing activism against doping. He achieved the best Canadian 50 km race walk time ever Friday, and also Canada's highest finish in the event; none of that goes away despite this ruling. At the very least, too, he should get some extra style points for his thematic tweet Friday morning: