EUGENE, Oregon-- It's been a wild Saturday for Perhman, Minnesota's Gabriele Anderson. This morning, she learned she'd been disqualified from the second heat of yesterday's 1500 meter semi-final race at the Olympic Track and Field Trials.
Anderson, a former Gopher, was DQ'd after making contact with fellow racer Amy Mortimer around one of the final turns. Anderson went on to finish second in the race, advancing to Sunday's final, where Olympic berths will be on the line.
But this morning, her coach Dennis Barker notified her, she had been disqualified for the contact.
They immediately filed an appeal and later in the afternoon, while on the phone with KARE 11, she learned that she had been reinstated into tomorrow's 1500 meter final.
Anderson must finish in the top three on Sunday, and reach the "A" standard time, of 4:06, to make it to London.
She has received national attention for being at this level, after gone through two bouts with cancer in her life. In 2009, she had adenoid cystic carcinoma, then had thyroid cancer in 2010. She was successfully treated for both.
The following phone conversation with Eric Perkins is broken into two parts, first when she learned about the DQ reversal, and later when she called us back with her reaction to the reversal.
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