Change unfair false-start rule

THE IAAF has announced it will discuss the false-start rule subsequent to superstar Usain Bolt's false start in the Daegu World Championships. When the false-start rule was changed on January 1, 2010 to a zero-tolerance false start for some events, it was criticised. I recall one sports analyst saying then the rule should be changed and it will be changed when Usain Bolt gets disqualified.

Many athletes, former and present, disliked the no-chance rule, including Jamaica's most successful female Olympian, Veronica Campbell-Brown, former 100m world champion Kim Collins of St Kitts, and former record holder Maurice Green of the United States of America.

The rule needs changing not because of Bolt. In fact, Bolt had no problem with the rule. The rule needs changing because the rule is unfair. Bruce James, TVJ analyst, stated that the rule is fair and should remain. However, the rule appears unfair. In this same World Championship, an athlete false-started in the 100 metres in the decathlon and was given a second chance. Also in the heptathlon, a female was given a second chance after a false start. This is manifestly unjust. This is a double standard. What applies to one athlete concerning false starts should apply to all.

In any case, in other track-and-field events, persons are given chances peculiar to the event, such as in the long and high jumps, a person can have a maximum of two consecutive bad jumps. In the walk race, each athlete is given two warnings before disqualification.

In other sports, athletes are allowed chances. When serving in a tennis match, one is allowed two opportunities to make it good. Sports must allow for simple human error. Athletes are not machines, and even machines malfunction at world games.

Computerise the timing

An athlete like Veronica Campbell-Brown would have participated in races, over time, experiencing three different false-start rules. Were current athletes consulted about these false-start rules which affect them the most? How many fans know that starters vary the time between 'get set' and 'go'? That, too, is unfair and should be standardised. Computerise the timing instead of using a starter's gun and make it three seconds between get set and go!

The rule that allowed one false start, which then puts the whole race under disqualification the next time, was better than this existing one, but that, too, was unfair because the first person who false starts is not punished, while the second person who false starts for the first time is disqualified.

It seems unfair for an athlete to train for a year with a lifetime dream only to be disqualified after one simple, non-life threatening error - a false start. There is no discipline that should be so harsh! This is like using a sledgehammer to kill a flea!

The IAAF could revert to the rule that existed in 2003, which allowed each athlete a false start and disqualification after the second false start. However, no sport organisation wants to go back to a previous rule and look silly. Therefore, it could look at other options. Mary, my wife, suggests that each athlete is given one handicap per event. It would mean that each athlete could false start only once whether it is in the heats, semi-finals or final. For example, the then defending 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, who false-started in the heats, would get another opportunity and, if she reached the semi-finals and finals, she would have to execute her race without making a similar mistake.

In the name of fairness, change the false-start rule and allow all athletes, and not some, to have a second chance in the races.

Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.