Really feel for the Mali girl in the hurdles - I know it's teh rulez, but ffs some humility would be nice.
wait for the bang. then go. not rocket science.
The "B" and bang to be exact. Rules is rules, just ask the GB women's track cycling team
technically you have to wait 0.1 seconds before you go otherwise that would be a flase start so technically bolt 'ran' for 9.53 seconds..
indeedy.
either accept it or move to a bmx fall away gate, right in front of their faces. go early, literally nosebonk the gate.
technically you have to wait 0.1 seconds before you go otherwise that would be a flase start so technically bolt 'ran' for 9.53 seconds..
i think it's more that the body takes 0.1s to react. you don't have to wait 0.1s then tell it to react.
The few times that I sprinted on a track with a proper gun, I found myself having to wait to hear the whole bang before getting up, otherwise I kept getting false starts!
Motor racing style red lights would be better - not particularly traditional though
Harsh rule. I preferred the one false start allowed then the next person that goes early is DQ.
And Murray Walker shouting at them.
I like it personally, when you had one free chance there was still a temptation for some to try and predict it, now you really do just have to wait and no one has an advantage just because they took a gamble and it paid off.
I like it personally, when you had one free chance there was still a temptation for some to try and predict it, now you really do just have to wait and no one has an advantage just because they took a gamble and it paid off.
bang on. why do you need to be jumping the start? everyone waits. then it tests your reaction AND your speed. perfectly fair.
You aren't trying to get ahead quicker than everyone else. You are trying to go as close to the bang as possible, but you're so nervous you end up going anyway. Or you're just too fast for the officials.. grrrr 🙁
bang on
[runs]
molgrips are you trying to tell us that (unlike the world's greatest ever runners) you had a reaction time faster than 0.1 seconds?
molgrips are you trying to tell us that (unlike th[s]e world's greatest ever runners[/s]ose mere amateurs in the Olympics) you had a reaction time faster than 0.1 seconds?
FTFY 😀
I raced to a high level in sprinting and I can assure you that no amateur would get close to reacting faster than 0.1s. The pros train their reactions, amateurs will do well to be out of the blocks in quicker than 0.2s, most were nearer 0.25s.
indeed. i shouldn't think 0.1s was picked as abritrary amount of time,
presumably it's quite hard to 'beat' without getting very lucky or... (cough ahem 'cheating' cough)
molgrips are you trying to tell us that (unlike the world's greatest ever runners) you had a reaction time faster than 0.1 seconds?
Of course not, I'd have said that if I meant it! I'm saying that if I tried to go the instant I heard the bang, I often got called for false starts.
I remain convinced I didn't false start at the County Athletics in 199x, I blame the officials 🙂
consipracy.
how did they measure the 0.1 seconds? that's the real shitter here mate. surely their stopwatch fingers aren't that fast?!?
Molgrips, in that kind if event it is not about the reaction time as such, more about how quick you go compared to everyone else. If you break before the rest of the pack you may get pinged as it looks like you went early. Whether you did or not only you know...
FWIW at my "peak" which was under 18's national level the only people who got pinged were trying to guess the gun, everyone else would take 0.2s+. I'm sure they used to say they were just too quick as well!
Well thanks for being sympathetic 🙂 I certainly wasn't trying to go early, I think I'll continue to believe that I was just much faster than all the other 15 year olds 🙂
I still don't know if I regret not taking up the sprinting properly. I stopped because I didn't like the pressure and also because I thought that whilst good I didn't have as much talent as my Mum.
Watching the Olympics I still wish for the chance to do what I think I'd have been best at, but in reality it's a pretty crap sport to actually do. You hang around all day for 11 or 23 seconds of activity and that's basically that. It's nothing like as fun as racing along singletrack or out manoeuvring someone for final sprint.
Everyone has such regrets, it's also not as if you can go and do sprints like you can 10k's. I competed against (and beat on occasions) a couple of guys who've won world and Olympic medals up to u18 level over 100m and 200m. I then decided I liked beer, girls and strangely basketball much more.
My dad is still adamant I could have done more, I'm not so sure but maybe that is because it was me that decided to quit.
tracknicko - Member
indeed. i shouldn't think 0.1s was picked as abritrary amount of time,
If you measure 'event related potentials' with an EEG, you don't see an electrical response in the brain for around 75-100ms after a visual or auditory stimulus. That doesn't include the time it takes for the brain activity to result in muscle activity.
My mum quit from an olympic training programme aged about 18 I think. She decided she wanted there to be more to life than training. I guess family support comes into it - she only had her mum who was in her early 60s and alone.
That doesn't include the time it takes for the brain activity to result in muscle activity.
Which is not insignificant either.
However, are those tests done in elevated conditions? When my fingers touched that rubbery track stuff I was so incredibly hyper that my reaction times must've been far far quicker. Only time I was ever that hyped up was during the start of a fight at school once. The other guy started to raise his fist to punch me and I grabbed his wrist before it had left his side.
You can't simulate that level of pumped-upness in a lab.
I'm wondering if there's a difference between conscious and subconscious reaction too. No way you can consciously react fast enough to ride a unicycle for example. Do the top guys train themselves so that they can react to the gun without engaging the conscious brain, and does that get them down towards (or even below) that nominal false start threshold.
Do the top guys train themselves so that they can react to the gun without engaging the conscious brain
They'd sprint-off uncontrollably when a car exhaust backfired