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<\/a>and done\u201d when he false started out of the final of the men\u2019s 100 meters! The world record holder. The man who cruised through his qualifying rounds. The favorite to perhaps win yet another sprint double, was somewhere other than on the track as the race he has dominated in the last two Major championships was run without him. Not because he lost during the rounds, but because he had an \u201coops\u201d moment at the wrong time. And as the gun went off, the sport shot itself in the foot, as its marquee athlete walked off the track defeated by perhaps the dumbest rule in sport! <\/p>\nSadly I saw it coming, as on day one there were several false starts \u2013 just none quite this big. First there were false starts in the decathlon 100, but the rules are different for them \u2013 no one and done. Then in the first round of the women\u2019s 400 we lost the defending Olympic champion, Christine Ohuruogo (GBR), but she had a poor season and was low profile, so not much noise was made. But I made note after these occurrences that at some point in this meet something bad was going to happen. <\/p>\n
During the morning session we had more false starts in the decathlon 110 hurdles, but they don\u2019t have the same rules \u2013 they get a second chance. Then in the heats of the men\u2019s 400 we had another false start and Nigeria\u2019s Abdou Samma was tossed \u2013 but he didn\u2019t even have a qualifying time and it was said that someone should have taught him the rules. Then as the afternoon session began another Brit was lost to the rule as in semi one of the men\u2019s 100 Dwain Chambers was tossed out to a false start \u2013 he knew the rules \u2013 and that sparked a little interest. Then shortly thereafter, in the 3rd<\/sup> semi of the women\u2019s 400 Joanne Cuddihy (IRL) was lost to a false start! Which lead us to the \u201cshot heard round the world\u201d as Usain Bolt became the rules most famous casualty. <\/p>\n Not that\u2019s a LOT of false starts \u2013 and it\u2019s only day two of the meet. I doubt if any of them were trying to cheat \u2013 because that\u2019s one of the primary reason we\u2019re told that we have the false start rule, to stop the cheaters. The other reason is to speed up the sport \u2013 because false starts cost time and TV doesn\u2019t\u2019 have time to waste. Well, I don\u2019t think Usian Bolt was trying to cheat, because he was clearly the dominant athlete out there on the track today. And if it\u2019s about TV, well television LOST its biggest drawing card when Bolt walked off that track! <\/p>\n For as long as I can remember, for as long as there has been modern track and field, the rule was that if you false started you got another chance, and if you false started again you were ejected from the race. And that was fair, fair to the athletes, fair to the fans, and fair to the sport. Because frankly, while yes there were those times when an athlete or two might try to get an advantage out of the blocks, there were infinitely more times when it was noise, nerves, the flinch of someone besides you, a plane overhead, or infinitely more reasons why an athlete might leave the blocks a hair early! And the RIGHT thing to do was to reset the athletes and let them try again. After all, it\u2019s the athletes that EVERYONE came to see. <\/p>\n But somewhere along the line, there were a few too many false starts in a race or two and the meet went a little too long and the sport decided it needed to do something. It started with the NCAA (whenever have THEY had the best rules for anything) who went to one and done. Then for some reason so did the National High School Federation \u2013 because we have to nip this cheating thing in the bud early! Then two years ago the IAAF adopted the rule, because you know those sprinters are hurting the sport with their false starts. Ironically I will tell you that there are more false starts in the hurdles than the sprints because it is so much more important to get to that first hurdle, well first! But for two years I, and others, have said it\u2019s a disaster waiting to happen. And today lightning struck Bolt! <\/p>\n I\u2019ve ranted enough, but today was important to the history of the sport I believe. And I hope that this will wake up the rule makers of the sport \u2013 and that we go back to what actually worked for a hundred years or more. And that in the future we make rules because they are what\u2019s right for the athletes and the sport, not because we are trying to manipulate something as innocuous as time! <\/p>\n