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nitefang t1_iu4kgbt wrote

Reply to comment by ANOKNUSA in TIL Devon Allen, track & field athlete/Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, was disqualified in the World Athletic Championships for a controversial false start. The starting blocks measured his reaction time from the time the gun went off at 0.099, which is 0.001 seconds faster than legally allowed. by The_Critical_Cynic

Is it standardized where the official with the starter pistol stands?

There is a theory I like but wouldn’t call reliably proven that says humans and animals often subconsciously taken in information and even subconsciously analyze it to come to conclusions they aren’t can’t explain the reasoning for. In context this is more about short term things, not abstract ideas. It is relevant in that if the theory is true it would mean some of the runners could be taking in information like the official holding the starting pistol a certain way and even the movement of their finger and be reacting to that making it seem like their reaction to the shot is very short. Though some put forward this theory could even include information you couldn’t even learn to look for, like a tiny reflection a hundred feet away that shows the ref (behind the runner) flexing their finger to pull the trigger.

I like the theory but it is probably BS.

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apawst8 t1_iu5mbd7 wrote

It's BS because each lane has its own speaker. So there's no time difference in hearing the signal.

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