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A new year and a new rule
The New Year will mark the international commencement of the new false start rule as defined by the IAAF at their annual congress meeting held in October 2009.
The rule, in its current format, states:
“Any athlete making a false start shall be warned.
Except in Combined Events, only one false start per race shall be allowed without the disqualification of the athlete(s) making the false start.
Any athlete(s) making further false starts in the race shall be disqualified from the race.”
Effective from January 1, 2010, the new rule has been changed to essentially remove the allowance of a false start by any competitor stating:
“Except in Combined Events, any athlete responsible for a false start shall be disqualified.”
Combined events remain unaffected by the rule change with a single false start allowed. Any competitor who false starts following the initial warning will be immediately disqualified.
Referring to the Korean host city for the world championships in 2011, the president of the executive council of the IAAF Lamine Daick has said, “we need to change it next year because everyone will have ample time to change by the time of Daegu.”
Jorge Salcedo, head of the IAAF’s technical commission, said at the time of the new rule’s proposal in March that “many athletes were playing mind games with the others, but under the new rule, that would not be possible.”
In a recent statement, the Athletics Australia Officials Commission has announced that significant training for officials will be undertaken prior to 31 December 2009 ensuring a smooth transition ahead Australian athletics season events held in 2010.
Competitors and officials alike are encouraged to click here and read all changes to be implemented for this rule and many others across both track and field events in 2010.
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