At Rio, Americans
Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin swept the 100m hurdles in Rio on
Wednesday. Rollins finished first in 12.48 seconds, followed by Ali in 12.59
seconds and Castlin in 12.61 seconds. It was the first time a nation swept the
podium in the event. For men it is 110
metres hurdles. As part of a racing
event, ten hurdles of 1.067 metres (3.5 ft or 42 inches) in height are evenly
spaced along a straight course of 110 metres. They are positioned so that they
will fall over if bumped into by the runner. Fallen hurdles do not carry a
fixed time penalty for the runners, but they have a significant pull-over
weight which slows down the run.
Guadeloupe is located
in the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Guadeloupe,
like the other overseas departments, is an integral part of France. It is thus
part of the European Union and the Eurozone, and its currency is the euro. … and this post is about a hurdler from
France Wilehm Belocian who is distraught by a harsh rule. The promising
21-year-old French hurdler was disqualified in round one of the 110-meter
hurdles Monday night because he left the blocks a split second before the
starting pistol sounded.
Belocian responded
to the ruling with anguish, knocking over the nearest hurdle, kneeling on the
wet track and burying his head in his hands before pounding the ground in
frustration. His eyes were still red and tear-stained 15 minutes later when he
blew past reporters in the mixed zone without talking. Fear of false starting
is more prevalent among sprinters and hurdlers these days because of a
controversial rule change that went into effect six years ago. Instead of
charging a first false start to the field with the second disqualifying the
offending runner, athletes are now ousted the first time they flinch early.
The zero-tolerance
policy is intended to speed up the sport and prevent gamesmanship. Sprinters or
hurdlers notorious for slow reaction times can no longer gain an edge by
guessing when the starter’s gun will fire, a habit that slowed down meets and
made it tough for TV networks working within a specific time slot. This rule is cited as one of the cruelest
rules in Sports. So after years of long
and hard training, a millisecond early start denied him the opportunity to
compete further.
Under the previous
rule, the entire field was given a warning in the event of a false start;
anyone in the same race who jumped the gun a second time would be disqualified,
even if it wasn't the first offender. In
2010, the International Association of
Athletics Federations changed the rule to its current draconian level because
of two reasons: Under the old rule, slower runners would purposely jump the gun
to throw off everyone else's timing and give themselves an edge, and the sheer
number of false starts slowed down meets and caused television broadcasts to
run over their time slots. So came the
new harsh rule ~ and immediately hit the news as the great sprinter Usain Bolt,
the fastest man on earth - false-started in the 100-meter final at the 2011
world championships in South Korea, earning a disqualification. Bolt, somewhat ironically, was an initial
supporter of the rule change and refused to criticize it after his own
disastrous false start in 2011. Others think it's awful.
"The sport
suffers when Christine Ohuruogu and Usain Bolt get thrown out of worlds," four-time
Olympic medalist and NBC track and field analyst Ato Boldon said in 2011, via
Yahoo Sports. "They changed the rule saying they were trying to save time
on television, but that did not work. That has not been the case. The reason
the rule hasn't been changed back is you have an organization that's trying to
save face." Ohuruogu, who won 400-meter gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics,
also crashed out of the 2011 world championships, false-starting in a 400-meter
preliminary heat. Still others say that today's top-flight track and field
athletes have grown up with the rule and are used to it by now, and that
today's races are much better without all the gamesmanship.
The IAAF seems
unwilling to change the rule, though in 2012 it adjusted the definition of a
false start, ruling that a sprinter's hands had to leave the ground or their
feet need to leave the blocks for it to be considered a false start
(previously, a mere flinch in the blocks could earn you one). Still, the chance
remains that a hard trained athlete could see his Olympics end before the race
even begins.
Rules are man made
and sometimes hurt people pretty badly.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar.
18th Aug 2016
