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.
[
Related: Michael Johnson's golden runs in 1996 live on in Olympic history ]
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.
[
Related: Double amputee Oscar Pistorius will run in the Olympics ]
"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."
Most people want to get the Sh1 million without
changing anything about themselves, which is really where the hard work
is. Circumstances do not make a person; they reveal them, and what they
need to work on. 
