Usain Bolt disqualified in the 100 metres fina
There has to be something wrong with the rules when the fastest man on earth is disqualified for a false start in the final of the 100 metres at the athletics world championships.
The feeling of shock around the Daegu Stadium in South Korea, when defending champion Usain Bolt was barred from the race after he came out of the blocks early, cast a huge shadow over the event.
Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake went on to take the gold in 9.92 seconds. But what a hollow victory. And what a disaster for the sport in the countdown to the 2012 London Olympics.
It was bad enough when Britain’s Dwain Chambers was disqualified for a false start in the semi-final and Christine Ohuruogu suffered the same fate in the 400m on Saturday. But when the public are denied the right to see the best sprinters in the world go head to head on the track the sport has been compromised.
The cynical conclusion is that the power of TV and their obsession with schedules has put undue pressure on the sport to make the rules so stringent that the sport itself is compromised.
In the case of Chambers, he was disqualified for merely twitching and not moving forward, which is clearly ridiculous.
Chambers insisted he has no complaints about the decision and graciously conceded: “The gun went and I moved before it fired. It was unfortunate, but it was enough. Rules are rules.”
But how will the public react at next year’s Olympics if we are denied the chance to see the best athletes compete in the blue-ribbon events because of the false start rule.
