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Official who disqualified Usain Bolt at worlds doesn’t expect a repeat at London 2012
Usain Bolt, who should need no introduction, is promising to set himself apart from the rest of the world's best athletes during the London Games.
So the timing might be good to introduce one central figure in Bolt's bid to become the first man to do the 100-200 double in consecutive Olympics, who is not named Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay or Justin Gatlin. At last fall's world championships, Bolt, as you know, was burned by what's called the cruelest rule in sports, athletics' rule that disqualifies a track competitor after only one false start. Now the Olympic 100 will have the same starter, Alan Bell of England, who disqualified Bolt last fall at the worlds in Daegu, South Korea. It's just another plot point amid the speculation Bolt's not in top form, even though his Jamaican teammates who see him every day are swearing by him.
The big takeaway is that Bell's theory is that the rule, far from being draconian and fodder for much media hue and cry, has made starters more accountable. Calling a false start is like calling a penalty in overtime of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final multiplied by about a million. As such, the one-time high jumper who became an official in the 1970s after an injury derailed his competitive career doesn't expect it to happen again. Especially now that the sport's governing body has liberalized the definition of a false start (only moving one's hands or feet is considered cheating).
He agrees with the controversial "one strike and you're out" disqualification rule that caught Bolt out. "A false start is a rarity now."The real challenge has been for the starters to hold their nerve. The good ones hold their concentration for that fraction longer. It's very easy to say 'set' and fire the gun immediately and rid yourself of the obligation."
He says a good starter needs composure and a sense of judgment. "I've got arguably as good a concentration span over 30 seconds as anyone else in the world. The rest of the time I'm happy go lucky, I'm smiling and enjoying myself. But that focus is so important." (London Guardian)
The officials will also apparently have more help than ever before in detecting what is indiscernible to human eyes regardless of how dialled in Bell says he is.
In London, Bell, the chief starter, and the rest of his team will be supported by a sophisticated electronic system. "You get print-outs that show you the reaction time," he says. "You get signals to show you if there's movement before the gun. You get a signal to tell you if there's movement before 0.1sec after the gun, which is the legal reaction time."You can also immediately reproduce a wave form to show when the athletes increase the pressure on the blocks, so you can differentiate between a twitch, where they might be settling or uncomfortable, as opposed to formally commencing their forward motion." (The Independent)
In any sport, there's usually resistance to a new rule. People are generally resistant to chance. The one-and-done rule seems pretty cold — four years out the metaphorical window over a sliver-of-a-second slipup.
It is worth getting an official's perspective on it. On personal level, Bell noted "You don't enjoy any disqualification because you're in a situation where the athlete has worked hard to be on the track that day," which would seemingly put him odds with about 75 per cent of Major League Baseball umpires. He also notes the rationale for the rule is to cut down on the "gamesmanship" that often prevailed when there was amnesty for one false start. Competitors would often use their one freebie to try to throw off a rival, or trade false starts if they were running into a headwind.
This keeps everyone honest. Here's Bell in The Independent, again:
"The discipline on the start line now among the top sprinters is actually quite exceptional. The job of the starter is no easier but it's probably more consistent. I think also it has made it easier for television to schedule and time live performances.
"And I suppose the last thing is that it has cut out what we would call gamesmanship and chancers. Everybody focuses on the red card for a false start but we can also now officially warn an athlete — for example for delaying a start, or for being deliberately obstructive by not following the instructions. Now, that's not a technical warning. That's actually a conduct warning. But if you get two of those you're out just the same.
"The athletes not only now have to concentrate on a good start, they have to concentrate on their conduct at the start too. So the whole package, I think, is now as good as it's going to get. As time goes on, more and more people are getting used to it. My own view is it's here to stay."
Expect Bell to get more attention than the typical official prefers when the Olympic men's 100 final goes on Aug. 5, the middle Sunday of the Games.
Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.
