Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I hate it when I forget to change the digest subject. >> From: <tedgrant at shaw.ca> >> Subject: Re: [Leica] EYE BLINK TIME? FALSE START????????????? AFTER >> THE GUN????????? >> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> >> Message-ID: <527009943D1543DCB3ADB4934FDC6C25 at syneticfeba505> >> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; >> reply-type=original >> >>>>>>That's exactly what the sprinter was DQ'd for: too many false starts, >>>>>>even >> though he started after the gun each time.<<<<< >> >> That's the first time I've ever heard of that? And given I've covered all >> the Summer Olympics since Mexico in '68 to Barcelona in '92. Along with >> Pan >> American Games and Commonwealth Games over the same period of time, never >> heard it during any of these international games either. >> >> False starts as in.... "jumping the gun?" Seen lots of those. But >> creating >> a "disqualification false start" due to not leaving the blocks when the >> gun >> goes off? Very interesting.... must ask one of the Olympic track coach's >> about that one. >> >> cheers, >> ted >> > > Hi Ted. As a former track athlete and coach, this is one very perplexing > rule. It has been around for quite some time, including those Olympics > that > you have shot. Here are a few links: > > http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/question702.htm > > http://www.condellpark.com/kd/reactiontime.htm > > So here is a rumor I heard. It all started back in Munich in 72. Before > then, few Americans had lost the 100 meters at the Olympics for a very, > very > long time. Valery Borzov, through some miscommunication by the American > coach, and more likely that he was just a tremendous sprinter with great > reaction times and a very good anticipator, won both the 100 and 200. The > rumor is that the Americans were so upset that they wanted the playing > field > leveled, so they started the move to remove anticipation from the equation > of starting. They wanted to hold sprinters back until they could react to > the gun, not anticipate it. My own idea is that anticipation is part of > being a good athlete. I only remember one or two times I was ever beaten > out of the blocks when I was running in High school and college. Not to > say > I was first at the end of the race, but to that first hurdle I was only > beaten maybe once or twice. > > Of course, this is only rumor and I have no factual information to back > it > up. > > So, the anticipation of 0.10 seconds has been wired into starting blocks > for > decades, I believe. It use to be that you were not DQ'd for a violation > of > the 0.10 second rule, and the race was just restarted, but I guess in 2003 > that changed. Now this year they have changed again so you can be DQ'd > after the first "false start". No more one for free. > > Aram >