Posted: April 18, 2005

Athletics: With Wide-Ranging Gap In Opinion Among Athletes, No-False Proposal Promises Heated Debate

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

(c) 2004 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

A week after the IAAF announced that it may introduce a strict no-false start policy in the sprint events, reaction among athletes and others is markedly split, suggesting a heated debate when the final decision is reached in August on the eve of the upcoming world championships in Helsinki.

Among those voicing concern is Olympic 100 meter champion Justin Gatlin.

"I wouldn't say I'm against it, but I think (the current) system works more efficiently," the 22-year-old Gatlin said, who also raced to a bronze medal in the 200 meters, adding that unintended consequences of no-false start proposal could be catastrophic. "Just a flinch or a leg cramp could cost you a year's worth of work. I think that maybe we should reconsider this."

Gatlin said that adjusting from U.S. collegiate competition, where a zero tolerance policy on false starts exists, wasn't so much a major adjustment as it was a "relief."

After entering the pro ranks, Gatlin said, "I was able to come to the start line more relaxed. I didn't have to come in so tight."

Capping its weekend meeting in Doha, Qatar on April 11, the IAAF Council recommended that a no-false start rule should be adopted at the international governing body’s next Congress in August. The current rule allows one false start that is charged to the entire field; a subsequent false start results in the athlete’s disqualification.

"The opinion of a majority of Council Members was that this rule change would prevent gamesmanship, by penalizing those athletes who deliberately false start to unsettle their rivals," said IAAF General Secretary Istvan Gyulai in a statement issued after the meeting in Doha. "But this is just a recommendation, and Congress will take a decision in Helsinki."

Seeking feedback prior to the proposal, retired sprinter Frank Fredericks, a member of the IAAF and IOC Athletes’ Commissions, surveyed the top 20 international sprinters and hurdles last winter to solicit their thoughts on a possible change. Of the respondents, 45 percent voted in favor of a no-false start proposal, with 55 percent opposed. Among fans, a clear majority seem to oppose the change, at least according to an international poll conducted on the IAAF website. Of the 1,351 votes cast, nearly 80 percent were against immediate disqualification.

Olympic 200 meter champion Veronica Campbell, who left Athens as the most heavily decorated women’s track athlete, doesn’t particularly like the proposal.

"I prefer the existing rule," said the 22-year-old Jamaican, who also won bronze in the 100 and anchored the victorious 400 meter relay squad. "The rule now has more margin for error." Campbell said she has never false started and that a rule change wouldn’t alter in any way her approach to a race, but added that something as simple as a minor shake in the blocks could lead to disqualification. "The existing rule would be nice."

Others voicing their opposition include Zhanna Block, the 2001 world champion in the 100 meters.

"It could cause athletes to be too worried about the start," the Ukrainian sprinter said, adding that any apprehension may cause athletes to hesitate coming of the blocks.

Block’s coach and husband, Mark Block, said that while he understands the IAAF Council’s wish to look for improvement, he thinks that the answer may not lie in the rule’s revision as proposed.

"I get frustrated watching all the false starts," said Block, who is also an athlete representative. But, he added, "There’s too much room for human error in such high stakes events" as the Olympic Games and world championships. Block noted that other variables also come into play, such as crowd noise and potential language barriers "that can cause athletes to false start or misunderstand a command."

Besides crowd noise, hurdler Maurice Wignall, fourth at last year’s Olympic Games and the reigning world indoor bronze medallist, said that those other variables can include something as simple as the click of a camera.

"If we are to believe that all false starts are solely the error on the athlete --never the official or some other factor-- or that all false starts are due to gamesmanship, then I am for the no-false start rule," Wignall, the Jamaican national record holder in the 110 meter hurdles, said. "Unfortunately, this is not the case," he added, expressing his opposition to the proposal. "Anything, including and outside of the eight athletes could trigger a false start; how do we account for this?"

Flaws in the technology used to detect false starts, some believe, could play enough of a role to question the wisdom of a zero tolerance policy, or at the least, call for a cautious examination when the rule is debated. "I would be more in favor of it if there was more accurate technology that could be used for calling a false start," Mark Block added.

American Sprinter Jon Drummond has become the pro side of the issue’s unofficial poster boy after his emotional outburst and subsequent protest at the 2003 world championships in Paris resulted in a 35-minute delay after his false start disqualification in the quarter-finals. While the "L’Affaire Drummond" has little to do with the new proposal --a "one strike you’re out" rule could arguably lead to more emotionally-charged protests-- it does add some ammo to the claim that false start detection equipment could be improved. After his race, Drummond said he flinched in the block, insisting that he did not false start. A follow-up review of the equipment by Track & Field News magazine showed that Drummond was most likely wronged in Paris.

"Those blocks are so sensitive," said Kim Collins, speaking immediately after the Drummond episode in Paris, before he went on to capture the world title. Colorfully illustrating the point, Collins said, "When you’re in the set, you cannot move. If you so much as pass gas, you’re going to get a false start."

Olympic 400 meter finalist Davian Clarke also expressed his displeasure with the proposal.

A runner may simply fall or slip from the blocks, Clarke said, just one example that "Was not an intent to cheat or to guess the gun or make everyone wait on the next asking, yet that person would be thrown out. What if someone is erroneously expelled from the race?" Clarke said. "Under the current provision they would have a second chance as opposed to immediate expulsion. With no second chances, would there be a rerun of the race if the error was discovered?"

Some athletes are more upbeat about the proposed change. Olympic 200 meter champion Shawn Crawford, Gatlin’s training partner, voted in favor of the new rule in the survey conducted by Fredericks. Darvis Patton, the 200 meter silver medallist at the 2003 world championships, is in favor as well.

"If this new proposal is implemented it will keep everyone honest in the blocks," Patton said, "not a bad thought. Those of us exposed to U.S. competitions are actually accustomed to this."

Olympic 100 meter hurdles finalist Lacena Golding-Clarke of Jamaica also likes the proposal. "False starts are a bit unnerving," she said. "Perhaps this will remove that aspect."

Echoing a view held by many event organizers, Hansjörg Wirz, president of the European Athletics Association, said that he’s been a long time advocate of a no-false start rule.

"That is the only rule in our sport where you can first try to do it right and you are not punished," said Wirz, who is also director of Zurich’s Weltklasse Golden League meet. "All other elements of our sport you have to do it right from the beginning."

Paul Doyle, also a sprint coach and athlete representative, is also among supporters of the change.

Four-time world 110 meter hurdles champion Allen Johnson expressed mixed feelings about the proposal, but said that he reluctantly agrees with the change.

"I know that as far as it comes across on TV we can’t have athletes false starting so much," Johnson said. "But it’s not fair to have one person false start and then somebody else out for the second false start. I say either we go back to the previous rule," where a third false start resulted in disqualification, "or we go for the NCAA rule of no false start."

Addressing the "gamesmanship" charge alluded to in the IAAF proposal, Johnson said, "It's not difficult not to false start," adding that there are plenty of athletes who deliberately jump the gun. "My personal feeling is that 10 percent of false starts are real accidents; 90 percent are due to insecurity or lack of focus. If you focus, you don’t false start."

Johnson, a decade-long veteran of the international circuit, concluded, "I don’t know what the solution is, but what I do know is that our sport is hurting. And we have to do everything we can to make it more attractive for TV, whatever it may be."

Copyright © Bob Ramsak and Track Profile. All rights reserved TrackProfile.com

© 1996 - 2005 RunnersWeb.com - All rights reserved.