New false start

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Whither the new false start?
Article Published: Sunday, September 6th, 2009

When a new false start rule was introduced in 2003, we all worried that performances would suffer. The American Maurice Greene held the 100 metres mark at 9.79 seconds set in 1999 and by 2003, he had piled up most of his 52 sub 10 seconds 100 metres races.

The new rule – one false start on the field and ejection for the second offence no matter who commits it – was clearly flawed. It penalizes all the sprinters in a race for the mistake of one person and is more open to manipulation, since an intentional false start can be used to hinder others.

Those flaws haven’t slowed times down. Two years after the introduction of the new rule, in June 2005, Asafa Powell of Jamaica brought the record down to 9.77 seconds. In September 2007, the swift Jamaican took it down to 9.74 seconds. Now the record is even faster, thrice adjusted by Usain Bolt to 9.72, 9.69 and 9.58 seconds. Asafa ran his first sub-10 at GC Foster College in 2004, a run of 9.99 seconds and all the rest of his 55 such races have come with the new rule in force.

Not prevented fast times

Though the record has moved away from him, Asafa improved to 9.72 seconds. That isn’t enough to make him the second fastest man of all time, as 2007 World champion Tyson Gay of the United States has run 9.71 seconds. Obviously, the rule hasn’t prevented fast times in the 100 metres. Today’s sprinters have learnt to live with its inequities and have moved on.

I imagine they will do the same with the latest new rule.

At the recent World Track and Field Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted to utilise a no false start rule for meets under its jurisdiction. The new rule isn’t really new. It has, in fact, been used in the USA for generations and is familiar to all with experience of high school and college competition there.

False start disqualification

Notably, at this year’s Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Herbert Morrison High School and Anastasia Leroy felt the pinch of this rule. One false start led to the disqualification of Herbert Morrison from the Championship of America 4×100 final. Leroy exited the College women 100 final by the same route.

Presumably, the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association will advise local meet organisers and ISSA, the Inter-Secondary Sports Association to introduce the no-false start rule in Jamaica for 2010. At the same time, our international sprinters will adjust to this rule just as they did to the old-new rule.

That will still leave one stone unturned. The IAAF keeps fiddling with the false start rule as a means to save time for television broadcasts. Multiple false starts cascade into schedule pile-ups for television and yet, there is another huge source of time wasting in big international championship 100 metres races.

Trailer load of slow times

To promote international development of the sport, the IAAF permits countries with no qualified athletes to enter one person in one event at the Olympics and the World Championships. They often choose the 100 metres.

In Berlin, at the 12th World Track and Field Championships, these sprinters produced the usual trailer load of slow times. In the men’s 100 metres, there were 20 performances slower than 11 seconds with nine personal bests ranging from 11.00 to 12.29 seconds.

In an age before the proliferation of continental and regional meets and the growth of international age-group competition, this may have made sense. In this age, where every continent has meets that can serve as steps up the ladder from neophyte to world star, the inclusion of these non-sprinters is unacceptable. Their numbers clog the meet up and their performances slow the meet down.

Expense of class athletes

Even more sadly, the inclusion comes at the expense of world-class athletes. Veronica Campbell-Brown was fourth in the sensational 2008 Jamaican Olympic Trials 100 metres final and found her way to Beijing blocked by 32 sprinters who ran slower than 12.00 seconds, with nine personal bests ranging from 12.25 to 14.05 seconds. That’s simply not fair. Those non-sprinters have got to go.

Hubert Lawrence has covered local and international track and field since 1987.

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It was quite funny to read that pre-Berlin statement by Bolt supporting the new rule change as he had never broken and never would … If the champs had been run under the new rules we wouldn’t have seen the 9.58 as he wouldn’t have progressed from the semi’s.

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Ive found that there are fewer false starts the further into the competition that you go.

In Berlin, there wasnt a false start in the final of the 100m. Same in Beijing. In the UK national championships this year, there were a number of false starts in the heats and semis, but not the finals. In a fair few GP meets this year, Ive seen false starts in the heats of the 100s, but not the final. For example in Crystal Palace this year, there were 2 false starts in each heat, but not in the final (if I remember correctly).

So the new rule might effect times, as most major races get away first time, so people can take more risks, or be less nervous about false starts, whereas they wont have this opportunity from now on.

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That’s a point worth mentioning, though bolt claimed he was clowning around with Bailey and not paying attention.
Under the current rule, didn’t he ultimately get the next guy thrown out?
That’s the problem. Either have no false start or the original rule back but not a bastardization of the two.

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Bolt also twitched visibly in his blocks in the final of the 200m when someone else false started.