The cruelest rule in sports: Track and field’s zero-tolerance false start policy

Usain Bolt seethes after a false start at the World Championships last year (Getty Images)

Only one outcome to his first Olympics would devastate U.S. sprinter Ryan Bailey more than not running fast enough to make the finals in the 100 meters or suffering an injury mid-race.
Anything would be better than a false start.

A late bloomer who didn't set foot on a track until his sophomore year of high school and focused more on football than sprinting until late in his senior year, Bailey has worked relentlessly ever since to harness his raw talent. The 23-year-old Oregon native can hardly bear to consider how frustrating it would be to have all those hours of conditioning, weightlifting and speed drills go for naught because of an ill-timed flinch in the starting blocks.
"That's the worst-case scenario," Bailey said. "I even feel like a false start is worse than getting hurt because you don't get a chance to run. To be automatically out before you take one step, that's the worst possible feeling."
Fear of false starting is more prevalent among sprinters and hurdlers at this year's Olympics than any in the past because of a controversial rule change put into effect two years ago. Instead of charging a first false start to the field with the second disqualifying the offending runner, the new rule ousts athletes the first time they false start.
That zero-tolerance policy is as cruel and unforgiving as any rule in sports, more sudden than a sixth foul in the NBA Finals, more damaging than a red card at the World Cup and more common than an unsigned scorecard at one of golf's majors. It has induced tantrums from otherwise mature adults and waylaid some of the legends of the sport.
At the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea last August, 100 meters world record holder Usain Bolt pulled his shirt over his face and slapped a wall in anguish after leaving the blocks early in the finals of his signature race. Only one day earlier, meet officials had to escort a shell-shocked Christine Ohuruogu off the track in shock after the 2008 Olympic 400 meters champ lost focus and false started in a preliminary round.
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Those mishaps and a handful of lower-profile disqualifications have some in track and field circles worried fans will be deprived of the chance to see some of the sport's greatest stars run in London. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson told the Daily Mirror this past weekend that "he's absolutely concerned that we could lose a Bolt." Kellie Wells, a contender in the women's 100-meter hurdles, echoed those sentiments earlier this week.
"With the crowd noise at big meets when there are marquee athletes on the track, it's very, very possible somebody gets disqualified," she said. "I just pray, knock on wood, that it's not me and has nothing to do with my race."
What led international track and field's governing body to alter the false-start rule was the desire to streamline the sport and eliminate gamesmanship.
Christine Ohuruogu holds her face in her hands after a false start at the World Championships (Getty Images)Under the old rules, sprinters or hurdlers notorious for slow reaction times would attempt to gain an edge by guessing when the starting pistol would fire, knowing the penalty would be charged to the field rather than to themselves. The multiple false starts slowed down meets and made it difficult for TV networks working within a specific timeslot.
In their zeal to make the sport more TV friendly, IAAF officials failed to consider the consequences of their ham-handed rule change. TV executives would rather telecasts exceed a time limit by a couple minutes than deprive viewers of the chance to see some of the sport's main attractions race.
"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. "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."
Since the IAAF ignored the global outcry after Bolt's disqualification last August, sprinters and hurdlers harboring dreams of an Olympic medal in 2012 have tried to adjust to the new rules. Most have said they they'll be more cautious than usual in preliminary rounds and they will simply react to the gun in the final rather than risk trying to guess when the starter's pistol will go off.
Tianna Madison, one of the U.S. sprinters trying to dethrone the Jamaicans in the women's 100 meters, spends two or three practice sessions a week perfecting her reaction time and acceleration out of the blocks. Coach Raina Reider hasn't discussed a strategy with Madison because she has yet to false start this year, but he expects her and her peers instinctually to be a bit timid, especially since the computerized starting blocks at the Olympics are designed to catch every twitch.
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"I think the reaction times are going to be bad," Reider said. "I think people are going to be a lot more cautious. I don't foresee anyone making the same mistake Bolt did last year. The fan is going to suffer because sprinters aren't going to run as fast. Slower reaction times will be the norm."
At an Olympics in which rain, wind and chilly temperatures could already be detrimental to fast times, the last thing sprinters and hurdlers need is another impediment. That's why it's disappointing to athletes like Bailey that Bolt's disqualification wasn't enough to force the rule to be changed back.
An underdog in a field that includes Bolt, Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin, Bailey knows he won't be able to overcome a sluggish start in a race that lasts less than 10 seconds. He intends to react out of the blocks the way he always does and hope it works to his advantage.
"People are going to be starting really timid," Bailey said. "They're not going to risk it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a lot of people. It only comes around every four years. If you false start this, it's going to haunt you for a while."

THE NEGLECTED VERANDAS

In the recent past we have witness fight between city askari,police and the hawkers in the capitals verandas.Some have fall prey of smelling nostrils cracking scent of teargas and ran all over,i too was not spared and that what directed me to the street and know the plight of the street vendors.
A preview about the market Muthurwa market was set up by the government in 2007 in a bid to provide hawkers in Nairobi with a more permanent selling space.The downside is that hawkers go where the market goes,and many buyer who give life to the street hawkers will not go to the market.The market has been branded the "monument of poor workmanship.The artitectual Association of Kenya said the market was poorly designed and many aspects overlooked

The complex has degenerated into a den of muggers where hawkers and matatu operators jostle for space

Most hawkers are afraid to speak  about their misery of being shot at while breaking city by-laws,police brutally leaves many city hawkers suffering in silence.Chilling details of police endanger the lives of Nairobi residents by shooting indiscriminately as they kick hawkers off the streets can be laid bare today.

Several hawkers have come out to display bullet wounds sustained during the shooting mostly during evening busy hours,when streets are jam packed as people walk to bus stop heading home.In May 2009,a stray bullet killed a civil servant and businessman was seriously injured as police confront hawkers in the heart of Nairobi.Deputy police spokesman Charles owino defended the use of arms saying hawkers use excessive force against police,however Kenya National Commission on Human Right(KNCHR)argues that while police are allowed to use firearms where there's a threat of life,the protests by hawkers don't fit in this category.
 The former chairman KNCHR Mr Omar and deputy spokesman Charles Owino said the public would soon have a credible forum to complain about police brutality once the Independent police oversight Authority is set up.

Stephen Waweru,the chairman of Central Business District Hawkers Association and also a hawker however maintain police are culpable claiming they are mistreated as some council askaris try to ward off competition for their wares,which are placed in strategic points.'Some asks have employed hawkers who sell their goods as certain streets without been touched.Why are they treating us like armed thugs yet we are just looking for daily bread?'Mr waweru said.He claims that due to involvement in the fight for the right of his members,some unknown people have threaten him with death and his case is being handled by the Release Political Prisoners Human Right Lobby Group.

Solution on this matter according to a new study is calling an the government to allocate space for the street vendors and stop treating them as outcasts.The study Negotiating"streets for all"in urban transport planning:The case for pedestrians,cyclists and streets vendors in Nairobi,Kenya,fault policy makers in Nairobi for neglecting these groups in policies.Neglecting of pedestrian,cyclists and street vendors in transport planning in different parts of the world reveals the persistence of inequality in the development and provision of trade and transport space that urgently needs to be examined and challenged as part of an effort to promote equality in urban and transport planning