A cruel rule that should be changed

YOU could be forgiven for thinking that the sport of athletics had shot itself in the foot so many times in its recent drug-riddled years that it had learnt its lessons.

But to have introduced a zero-tolerance rule under which one false start means instant disqualification for the culprit is as crazy as it is cruel.

The clamour for another rethink has grown from the moment Usain Bolt’s bid to retain his 100m crown at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, ended in such drama and heartbreak.

It may well be, as the rule’s apologists claim, that the call for it to be rescinded would not have reached such a volume had it been anyone else but the world’s most famous athlete.

But that misses the point: it is a draconian rule and, while it must be accepted that all sports must operate within a framework of regulations, it is crucial, too, to remember that sport – and particularly athletics – desperately needs the paying public to feel it is getting value for money.

For some IAAF officials to be vociferously defending the status quo for no other reason that it illustrates the power of its rule-making is utter nonsense.

The World Championships, once regarded as a genuine rival and even a threat to the standing of the Olympic Games, have all but dropped off the radar in recent years and the current competition has barely registered with many sports fans.

The sport is desperately short of superstars and the most gilded of them, Usain Bolt, was the headline act, the finest sprinter the world has ever seen. Bolt himself accepted the situation with grace but the watching world was robbed of seeing the great man in action.

Of course there must be rules. But under previous arrangements, no-one got flung out for one false start. There must be some leeway – the watching millions deserve that courtesy even if the rulebook fiends disagree. Had Bolt blundered twice, few could have disputed his disqualification.

Two of Britain’s best-known track stars, Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu, in the 400m heats, and Dwain Chambers, in the 100m semi finals, also fell foul of the ‘sudden death’ regulation.

Bolt’s young compatriot and rival Yohan Blake took the 100m gold and attention immediately turned to today’s 200m where Bolt, who won the title so spectacularly in Berlin two years ago, will have the lenses of the world on him.