False Start

I had another dream.

This time I found myself seated in front my television, taking in the enthralling excitement of the Olympics.

Everything was happening in living, vivid, 3-D, splendid colour. I was riveted!

Up on the screen was the third round of the 100m sprint for men. The starter’s pistol went off, and the race began. Immediately on my screen a flashing yellow light lit up, highlighting lane 4.

The race concluded, and the times were displayed. It showed an adjustment to the time allotted to the runner in lane 4.

Deep into this dream now!

I was to learn that the lane 4 runner had false-started, but under newly-applied rules, the race was not aborted. Rather, the system applied a calculation that involved a 0.05 multiple to the offending athlete’s reaction time (RT). This figure was added to lane 4’s finishing time, adjusting his gun time (GT) upward and resetting his actual placement in the race.

The Formula: GT + (RT x 0.05) = OT (or RGT), where OT = Official Time; RGT = Revised Gun Time.

Well, I’ll be!!!

The flashing yellow light was visible only to the teams involved in the race at the time, the race officials and media audiences outside the venue to prevent distraction from the event, and was made available to all immediately upon the conclusion of the race.

The race officials were relieved.

The attendees were all happy.

The sponsors were happy.

The media audiences were happy.

And the nation represented by the runner was over the moon.

After all, this was their first-ever world class sprinter, and even though the false-start cost him 1^st place, he still qualified for the semi-final, his RGT placing him 2^nd in the race and gaining him automatic qualification to the semi-final.

I jumped out of my chair in elation …