Athletics-Men’s 100 metres final ends in farce
By John Mehaffey
LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - In a race beginning in chaos and ending in farce, European champion Dwain Chambers won the men’s 100 metres final at the London grand prix on Friday in an unrecorded time.
The start of the showpiece event of the night was delayed for 15 minutes after a false start by American champion Bernard Williams when Chambers’s British team mate Darren Campbell complained that music was coming out of his starting blocks.
Officials switched from electronic to manual timing which resulted in a time of 9.53 seconds, 0.25 of a second inside the official world record, being flashed on the board when Campbell edged Commonweath gold medallist Kim Collins. Collins was credited with 9.56, also clearly erroneous.
“The problem is we switched from electronic to manual timing,” an official said. “There’s a possibility that the times won’t be recorded.”
Earlier, world record holder Tim Montgomery failed to qualify after making a dreadful start in his heat.
The 28-year-old American was left standing at the start, made up some ground in the middle of the race, then faded to sixth in a race won by Commonwealth champion Kim Collins in 9.97 seconds. Montgomery clocked 10.13.
“I slipped in the blocks,” said Montgomery, who also finished sixth in Tuesday’s Stockholm grand prix.
"It was my mistake. It is going to take some more races to get where I need to be. After a terrible start I was at least able to come up through the field and hold on.
that comment with darren campbell and the music was hilarious.