On the Scene in Daegu -- A Reporter's View of the Tournament

The "Land of the Morning Calm" is abuzz with excitement over the International Association of Athletics FederationsWorld Championships. Hordes of Korean school children descend on Daegu Stadium, holding hands and chattering while calling out "Hell-o! Hell-o!" to foreigners.

Once inside the stadium, the children line up at the concession stands, grabbing ice cream treats or bags of potato chips.

Sarbi, the mascot based on the canine breed that is supposed to ward off bad luck, gives etiquette lessons from the giant screens. Before each race, he goes "Shhhhhhh." Then as soon as the gun goes off, the cheering starts. Usain Bolt was so amused by the young girls in the upper deck who squealed every time he turned in their direction that he threw his shoes to them. The crowd enjoys the feature called "Kiss Time," but the subjects seldom kiss. They do like "the Wave," though.

For these Korean spectators, attending the greatest athletics event of the year is like going to the circus. They may not be quite sure what's going on or where to look, but they sure are enjoying it. And just like when the circus leaves town, when all of the visitors leave and the banners and signs come down, "It's going to feel empty," says Daegu resident Victoria Bae.

In selecting Daegu, the IAAF brought its crown jewel to only the fourth-largest city in Korea. Attendance has been strong, but the crowds empty out before the evening sessions are over, even though they're abbreviated to blocks of about three hours. That's because those who took the subway have to either take a bus to the station or walk 20 minutes.

That's one of the drawbacks with holding the World Championships here. Berlin, the site of the 2009 World Championships, had both the S-bahn and U-bahn lines dropping off at the stadium.

Lodging Complaints

The other drawback is a shortage of suitable accommodations. The city has branded itself as "Colorful Daegu," but some journalists saw a bit too much local color when they checked into their motel. After quickly running out of space in Western-style hotels, the accommodations department decided to use "greenstels," which should have been called "redstels" because you blush when you realize what they are. Let's just say most people check into my motel for an hour; I checked in for two weeks. And don't even ask about the vending machine outside my door.

Thankfully, I spend more of my time at the stadium. That's where champions like Ezekiel Kemboi, the skinny Kenyan who whipped off his shirt and danced on the track, make you want to share their exuberance -- and maybe buy them a hamburger. From start (the disqualification of Bolt in the 100) to finish (the disqualification of Cuban Dayron Robles in the 110m hurdles for interfering with Liu Xiang of China), the Daegu World Championships also have had their share of controversy.

The hurdles DQ is a judgment call. Other hurdlers, including American record holder David Oliver of the U.S., say that contact like that happens all the time. There are no moves afoot to change any rules.

Bang Bang

But the false start rule will be discussed Sunday by the IAAF Council. Pundits all over the world have been calling for them to change the rule before London, or risk seeing another superstar tossed out.

True, the rule -- which also claimed British 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu, the Olympic champion, and her teammate, sprinter Dwain Chambers -- is unforgiving. One false start and you're out. It went into effect in 2010, replacing the previous rule (2001-2009) in which the first false start was charged to the field, then a runner was disqualified if he or she jumped the gun after that.

Should the false-start rule go back to the way it was? I decided to ask an expert, the 1992 U.S. Olympic men's head coach, who also happens to be my father, Mel Rosen.

"I think it's the best rule," he says. "We should have had it years ago. It just so happened that Bolt got caught."

Under the previous rule, my dad says, "they used to always have people trying to get ahead of the guy next to them. They were making guys guess all the time. Now, you get in the blocks, you know this is it, you gotta go."

One of the arguments for the new rule was to help keep the meet on schedule to help broadcasters.

"It was killing them as far as showing it as a television show," my dad says. "It would take 10 minutes to get the race off."

Prior to 2001, the false start rule in effect allowed one false start to every competitor.

"If there were two guys on the same team in a race," my dad says, "one guy would false start and try to draw somebody with him. And another would false start to try to draw another guy, and then they were the only ones left.

Whole Field Goes Out

He says at the 1944 U.S. national championships at Randall's Island in New York, there were six guys in the race and the whole field false-started, two at a time. And that was when no one was disqualified until his second false start. After everyone was out, they put everybody back in the race and called it an exhibition. And still someone false-started.

The current false start rule is used in U.S. colleges. My dad, who was head coach at Auburn University from 1964-1991, says he pushed to get it adopted.

"I think it makes for faster races," he says, "because you don't have to guess if you're going to go this time or not go this time. Now, when the gun goes off, you run."

Bolt played it safe in his first race back, with a reaction time of .314 in his 200m heat. A typical reaction time is about .160.

Ohuruogu was even more cautious. Leading off for Great Britain in the 4 x 400m relay heats, her reaction time was .474. "She was waiting," my dad says, "for someone to tap her on the shoulder."

Homepage photo from Getty Images.

Written by Karen Rosen in Daegu, South Korea.