The International Association of Athletics Federations will come under heavy pressure to change the rule on false starts after Usain Bolt was disqualified from the final of the 100m at the world championships.
The biggest race of the athletics season was an anticlimax in his absence, and the risk of a repeat at London 2012 will surely give the IAAF cause to think again. Within two hours of the race's finish, Kim Collins, who won the bronze medal behind Bolt's 21-year-old training partner Yohan Blake, had already asked the IAAF to reconsider the rule.
Collins said: "I am hoping the IAAF will think about what is going on and see how the one‑false‑start rule is affecting the sport, and see the pros and cons of changing it." Collins, 35, has seen the false‑start rules change three times in his career, and he was clear that the current set are far from ideal. "I think if you give the field at least one false start it would be a better rule, but the athletes don't make the rules."
The IAAF communications director, Nick Davies, said: "A rule is a rule. It is the same for everyone. Now is a moment to keep our perspective, and it is not the right moment to make changes." In a statement released later on Sunday night, the IAAF said: "A sport's credibility depends on its rules and they must also be applied consistently and fairly for all athletes."
The new "one strike" rule was introduced in January 2010, and means that even a twitch of the feet in the blocks could end in mandatory disqualification. These are the first major global championships at which it has been in place, and it has taken a heavy toll on the competition. The British 100m sprinter Dwain Chambers was also disqualified in his semi-final. And on Saturday the Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu suffered the same fate.
The "one strike" rule replaced a system that gave one athlete a yellow card if they jumped the gun, but after that the next competitor to do so would get a straight red. Walter Dix, who won the silver medal, pointed out that that particular system was also flawed because it was being "taken advantage of" by some runners, who would false-start deliberately to increase the pressure on their rivals.
Before that, each individual athlete was allowed to make two false starts. That rule was changed in 2001 because the TV broadcasters felt it was causing too many delays. When the authorities consider the prospect of Bolt being disqualified from the Olympic final next year, they may think again.
