No Change to False Start Rule, Clarifies IAAF

(ATR) The mere thought of a false start knocking a big name out of the Olympics – who can forget Usain Bolt at the 2011 world championships? – is enough to make anyone flinch.

But flinches by runners in the blocks should be viewed in a more tolerant light, thanks to a clarification of the text regarding the controversial false start rule in March. The new wording is intended to help starters interpret Rule 162.5 – in which athletes are disqualified after one false start – and apply that rule correctly.

However, IAAF spokesman Nick Davies tells Around the Rings that despite speculation among some media, the IAAF false start rule has not been changed ahead of the opening of athletics events at London 2012.

"All that has been done is a redrafting of the text in guidelines regarding the start in a book called The Referee which has just been republished," he says. "The intention is to ensure that starters are encouraged to interpret the false start rule on consistent and simple logic that a false start occurs when an athlete loses contact with ground or starting blocks with either hands or feet and not just because of a ‘starting movement.’

"We want the starter to make a clear distinction between false starts (red card and DQ) and misconduct (yellow card…which leads to DQ for a further offense). It is important that false start judgments are not just about the reading on the machine, but an expert interpretation of that reading. But to stress again, the IAAF Rule itself has not been changed."

If a runner moves his hips up and down without losing contact with the ground or blocks, he should be warned, but not disqualified.

Sanya Richards-Ross of the U.S. has her own simple way of interpreting the rule. "For the most part, stay still and go when the gun goes," she says.

"The fast start rule I think gets too much attention," adds Richards-Ross, a two-time Olympic champion who will run the 400m and the 200m here in London. "Whatever the rule is, we need to abide by it; but you can’t make everybody happy."

She calls the new interpretation "if your body moves, but your legs don’t" and says it’s "over-thinking the process and [making] it more challenging for the athlete."

Before the rule was changed in 2010, if someone false-started, the miscue was charged to the field. On the next false start, the perpetrator was disqualified. Athletes would sometimes jump to see if they could get away with it. Such gamesmanship could cause competitors to run a good 10 meters before the callback, and that was bad for TV because the meet fell behind schedule.

"A lot of people don’t really do it on purpose, though, but it happens," says U.S. sprinter Ryan Bailey, who will run the 100m beginning Saturday. "We’ve all done it. It’s pretty crappy throwing them out of the race.

"Much like every other sprinter, I’m not really a big fan of (the rule)."

However, Jamaican world champion Yohan Blake, who won the 2011 world title without Bolt in the race, is not among those clamoring for a more forgiving rule.

"I’m a person … I love to wait," Blake says. "I don’t really have a problem with it."

He thinks his teammate will wait, too, "I don’t think Bolt will false start again."

But don’t expect the London Games to go false-start free. On the world’s largest stage, athletes are still seeking a competitive advantage.

"It’s like throwing a punch in the boxing ring before the bell, and you’re not allowed to do that," says DeeDee Trotter, another U.S. 400m runner competing in her third Games.

But she also warns that situations similar to the Bolt banishment from the world 100m race or U.S. sprinter Jon Drummond’s refusal to leave the track after false-starting at the 2003 world champs "hurt" the sport.

"We already don’t have enough people watching," she says.

Reported by Karen Rosen

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