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ARoundForEveryone t1_iu3e37n wrote

Ok, I get that there has to be some standard here. But when you're dealing with a thousandth of a second, there's a few things that could be at play here that are outside the runners' control that could affect how long it takes the sound to hit the runners' ears (leaving out the body's ability to process that sound, as that's part of the race I guess)

A few off the top of my head:

Wind difference, both speed and direction, between inside and outside lanes. Not even for the obvious reason of helping/hurting some runners differently than others, but for the fact that it will affect the time it takes for the sound of the pistol to reach them.

Humidity difference across lanes.

In a dash where there's no running distance advantage to inside/outside lanes, now you have to deal with distance away from the starting pistol.

I wonder if eliminating the pistol and going strictly to a red/yellow/green light system like drag racing would work. I guess it could, but then these differences all crop up again if you start measuring down to the trillionth of a second...

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The_Critical_Cynic OP t1_iu3eyqb wrote

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but it would seem easier to have an appeals process, and to have the standards assessed. Like you said, there are so many variables that this hardly seems like something to complain about.

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hkohne t1_iu3g235 wrote

Possible, but a couple of points wouldn't work here:

He was in a middle lane The runners are all looking down at the track before the pistol sounds. They wouldn't be able to see lights unless they were on the track itself.

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ablativeyoyo t1_iu3p5oy wrote

Regarding distance from starting pistol, in some races you see a speaker behind each athlete, which is intended to eliminate that effect.

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geniice t1_iu4nhm4 wrote

> Wind difference, both speed and direction, between inside and outside lanes. Not even for the obvious reason of helping/hurting some runners differently than others, but for the fact that it will affect the time it takes for the sound of the pistol to reach them.

sound is played from speakers behind each athelete.

>I wonder if eliminating the pistol and going strictly to a red/yellow/green light system like drag racing would work. I guess it could, but then these differences all crop up again if you start measuring down to the trillionth of a second...

You can't usefuly do anything at the trillionth of a second level because light can only travel 0.3mm in that time.

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rivalarrival t1_iu49ted wrote

The standard does not need to include any duration from when the clock starts to when the runner may begin moving. If they can figure out how to time it so that they start moving at the exact same instant that the starter is fired, it should not be considered a false start.

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