Hesse's Olympic dream ends abruptly with DQ

Published Feb. 12, 2014 7:37 a.m. ET

foxsports

Judith Hesse is out of her event without even getting a turn. All because of a little flinch.

The German speedskater, competing in her third Olympics, was disqualified from the women's 500 meter event after being flagged for a pair of false starts in her heat against Miyako Sumiyoshi. Sumiyoshi skated the heat alone after the DQ.

The DQ came because of a barely noticeable arm-flinch as they waited for the starting gun to sound.

The race was set to be Hesse's only event.

There were some rallying cries in Hesse's defense after her ouster:

#judithhesse FOUL on the Starter @ Women's 500m. Start 2 >3.5 sec. from Ready! BOO! Where's the ISU? Fix this! pic.twitter.com/P2rBwWbNJ8
— Rich Asay (@rich_asay) February 12, 2014

the Olympic Committee should really look into the DQ of speedskater Judith Hesse for an un-noticable arm flinch #Sochi2014 #SochiFail
— randy (@randys950) February 12, 2014

U have 2 feel for the German Speedskater Judith Hesse. 4 years prepping to be DQ'd by false start.Gun seems delayed #Olympics2014 #Sochi2014
— Carter Hall (@TennHawkman) February 11, 2014

Pretty sure no one is having as bad a day as Judith Hesse. Rough disqualification! #Sochi2014
— Hannah Bottrell (@HannahBottrell) February 11, 2014

South Korea's Lee Sang-hwa won gold in the event, while Sumiyoshi wound up 14th, more than two seconds behind Sang-hwa.