Costly mistakes

There have been a couple of races I have viewed in the last week where records may have been broken if concentration and technique would have been throughout the race.

  1. Dix should have broke Bolden’s 100m record in the NCAA finals but at about the 95m mark, he yells out something that you normally see as someone crosses the finishes and then tries to quickly regain form.
  2. Tyson does something similar in the 200 GP. Its like hes playing with the spectators and competitors.

Here are the prevailing questions.
How much time did these gestures (whether deliberate or not) cost them?

What other notable races have had similar incidents? (it does not matter whether or not the person won)

Carl was know for having a wandering eye from time to time if he was losing. Wallace is known to let off the gas often. If you watch the 200 against Tyson, he gives up the last 50m on winning, he is running to not finish last.

Ato Boldon has a history of celebrating before crossing the line.

Obviously Ben Johnson’s 9.79

Also Maurice Greene’s 9.82 headwind in Edmonton, but of course he couldn’t help that.

Remember what Capel did at the NCAA’s running against Coby in the 200 meter dash! What a shame!

If you slow down a lot of major finals you seem a good portion of the guys dipping early (@ like 90m) and losing some time because of it. Probably wouldn’t have won anyway, but may have hit a pr.

One of my favorite races of all-time. Look at this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ks1f_zSQg

Mike Marsh in the 200 semis at Barcelona, 4 years before 19.32. He had Mennea’s record broken in the semis, but celebrated early. No problem–it’s only the semi’s, right? Surely, he’ll get it the next time.

He finished in 19.73, and never ran that fast again.

What would you say “clipping a hurdle” is equivalent to in time?
I know there are no absolutes, just for the sake of dialogue.

If one of the worlds best shuts it off at 10m, 20m, etc in prelims to conserve CNS, how much time are they losing. (in consideration of what their speed is during the race.)
SOmetimes when they shut off they seem lose minimal ground to the runners behind them. Its very interesting to watch.