False Start Rule To Stay For 2012 Games

Athletics’ governing body has confirmed that the false-start rule will remain in place for the London 2012 Olympic Games – after world record holder Usain Bolt was disqualified for a false start in the 100m final of the World Athletics Championships.

The rule immediately gives a red card to anyone who false starts out of the blocks, and many, including Jamaican officials, have called for the governing body (IAAF) to reconsider the rule to avoid having a star like Bolt disqualified in similar circumstances in London.

Bolt however, said his disqualification had been a lesson and has not called for a change in the rules.

IAAF president Lamine Diack explained to media that no one at Sunday’s IAAF council meeting had asked for the rule to be changed.

Diack said: ‘We will not come back to the issue. Bolt had a false start but that is not going to make us change’.

Until ten years ago every athlete had the right to one false start before risking disqualification, often leading to several aborted starts before a race actually took place.

Under the second version of the rule, athletes had the right to make one false start before the whole field was given a warning with any subsequent false starts leading to disqualification.

However, that brought the risk of what IAAF director of communications Nick Davies described as ‘a bit of gamesmanship’, with athletes looking to remove any advantage fast starters have by deliberately false starting to put the field under pressure – which lead to a further change to the current rules in 2010.