Too harsh a rule. Everyone deserves a second chance
So I was watching an old track and field video from an Olympic game on youtube the other day, and one of the athletes had a false start and was disqualified from the race immediately, and my first thought was — what the barnacle!
I know it is not a new rule, but it just does not make any sense to me.
The rule
An athlete who moves within 0.1 seconds of the gun going off has a false start and earns a disqualification from the race. This rule was instituted for runs 400 meters long and less.
Initially, even just a flinch justified disqualification, but later it was modified in 2012 to be when the athlete’s hand left the ground or when the foot left the block.
History
The World Athletics, which is the governing body for athletics and formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF), instituted the false start rule.
Before 2001, each athlete was allowed one false start, so an ejection occurred if the same athlete had a second false start. If another athlete committed the second false start, no disqualification happened since that would be a first false start for the athlete.
