The current false start rule (one false start = out) is a joke and will ruin athletics. Who saw this happen? And your opinions?

As if their nerves aren't high enough already before the races. 1 false start = DQ seems a bit extreme to me; just let the people race, and if they somehow get a microsecond advantage illegitimately, good for them.

This rule was already applied in swimming competitions, but then the start isn't as important as in athletics. Either way this rule is still extreme (though tbh Bolt doesn't need a great start to win )

There should be a countdown like in kart games !

The previous rule was there was only one false start for the group, and then any additional false starts were DQs.  In my opinion, it's BS trying to beat the gun, so just wait and get a slow start if you must.  The truth is there really should be a big screen with a counter from 3 like in MKDD, but those who start early don't start more slowly.

robman60 wrote on 08/28/11 at 09:12:48:

You share my opinion, but worded it much better.

[quote=Zarkov]I didnt see it as Channel 4 cover it now instead of the BBC. Advert breaks make it tedious to watch, plus Channel 4 have horrible commentators who know nothing about athletics. [/quote]
I only watched a little bit of the athletics this morning, so luckily none of my viewing was interrupted by adverts, but the commentators were mostly appalling.

I suppose BBC sold the athletics like they will partly with F1 because they can't afford it, but imo, it's better than I can almost all of the athletics but with a few ad breaks on C4, rather than only see half of the F1 races, because Sky will have ownership of one half of the races (or so I last heard a while ago) and there is no way I'm ever going to get Sky.

I agree, the commercials are highly annoying.

And the IAAF have announced a discussion of the rule next Sunday. I remember the likes of Ato Boldon and Tyson Gay saying that this rule would result in disaster back in 2009. I hope the rule is changed to avoid a repeat catastrophe in 2012 -_-

I think it's a complete farce, makes a mockery of the entire competition. I want to see who the fastest man in the world is, not who the stillest man in the world is. IMO there was nothing wrong with the old old rule when every athlete was disqualified after their 2nd false start, I though the new rule where the whole field got a warning after any athlete made a false start was bad, but this is even worse. I didn't mind seeing a few false starts before the race proper, it helped ramp up the tension. This new rule is all about TV convenienve rather than for the good of the competition.

federeriscol wrote on 08/28/11 at 11:36:09:


If you don't wait for the gun you will be disqualified. The starter holds the athletes for a random time in the set position and anyone who reacts within 0.1 of the start is disqualified, this is specifically to prevent people from gaining an advantage by anticipating the start. So you must wait for the gun (in top level athletics anyway, in shitty local track meets you could probably jump the start by 0.5s and get away with it).

wxyz wrote on 08/28/11 at 11:46:09:


What a load of rubbish that is, clearly you made that up or got that from a completely unreliable source. Athletes may leave the starting blocks as soon as the gun has been fired, not within 0.1s. That's is crap, otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of the starting noise.

federeriscol wrote on 08/28/11 at 11:57:50:


Stop talking out of your ass:

The Starter and/or an assigned Recaller shall wear
headphones in order to clearly hear the acoustic signal emitted when
the apparatus detects a false start (i.e. when reaction time is less than
100/1000ths of a second).

Source: http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/Competitions/TechnicalArea/05/47/81/200910271...

Edit: Just to explain a bit... it takes a non-zero amount of time for the sound to reach the runner, for his brain to process the sound, and for the signal to travel to his leg muscles. If any athlete were to produce <0.1 second reaction times on a regular basis, they'd presumably challenge the rule.


About Bolt: Yeah, this was really unfortunate . I watch most of the Diamond League events and Ato Boldin typically speaks out against the rule whenever there is a false start. Personally, I'd rather see the runner capable of producing the fastest 100m time win. It'd be interesting if they moved towards the field event method where the athletes get several attempts. But, I'm more into statistics and stuff than most people and I can see why they want to keep it as a single race for the excitement.

sully wrote on 08/28/11 at 12:05:02:


That's not what I mean. They don't wait for the sound of the gun, they know when it is going to be. This means that they train to go in the smallest amount of time possible after the gun has gone off. If they were purely reacting to a noise it would take them much longer to take off than if they practise for it (as they do).

Quote:


Firstly, I take back what I said, I just couldn't believe that the system would be like that, in fact I still can't.
Secondly, doesn't this mean that if you leave after the noise of the gun, but before a tenth of a second, you don't get a DQ but the race starts again? Those rules are so goddamn unclear. :/

They are definitely reacting to the sound of the gun, not guessing when it is going to be. Here are the reaction times for the 100m final in the 2008 olympics:

0.133
0.133
0.134
0.142
0.145
0.147
0.165
0.169

The starting gun is fired by a human starter... and humans aren't capable of firing a gun exactly 3.00 seconds or whatever after the "Set" command. As Moll said, the starter fires the gun when he feels like it.

If you leave within 0.1s of the gun shot, you are disqualified. It sounds a bit stupid, because theoratically they haven't made a false start, but in fact they have. If you start within 0.1s than you have started before you could have heard the gun shot.

Athletes in fact have to wait for the gun shot to start. They spend a lot of time getting their reaction time as low as possible. If you look up the reaction times of the athletes, you will see that it's not random. Most of the athletes have about the same reaction time every time. Before the new rule, they could risk to start too soon once, but it would result in a way slower reaction time on the second try (which if they started too soon again, would result in a disqualification).

All in all, I think that the new rule is not really worse than the previous one. Agreed, you can lose months of preparation in one moment of nerves, but do you think that you would be much faster in the second chance in which you will be ultra-cautious for not causing a second false start. It also rules out the deliberate false starts that only make everyone more nervous and what will never result in faster times.

I did a lot of sprinting in the past, until recently, and I also had to undergo the new rule. I have always taken a lot of risks at the start, even after my first start, and I have been disqualified many times and even more the first year with the new rule, but I learnt to change my way of sprinting. I wirked a lot on my reaction and now I still have a very fast start without being disqualified. Athletes now the risks and everyone will once make a false start, due to nerves, or due to taking too much risk and it's very very pityful if it happens on the most important day of the year (this might sound a bit harsh), but rules are rules and I'm sure Bolt will understand this.