JAAA explains starting chaos at 100m men’s final
The organisers of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Senior Championships have moved to clarify the circumstances under which the starters inadvertently charged a competitor for false-starting in the 100-metre men’s final on Friday.
According to a release from JAAA, the wrong athlete was incorrectly charged due to a “technical” blunder.
Initially, the starters ruled that Nickel Ashmeade, in lane four, had fouled the start, but television replays suggested that Jason Livermore, in lane one, was the culprit.
After objections from Ashmeade, as well as from other athletes in the race, the starters withdrew the red card, and instead gave a warning to the entire field.
“A false start is confirmed by a start information system which records changes in power on the blocks, and it is programmed to record a false start if the movement of any athlete is less than 0.100 seconds,” said the release from the local athletics body.
“In this case, a false start was indicated for lane four and the athlete was so charged as prescribed by the rule. However, an entitled review of the start, after the athletes’ protest, suggested movement of the athlete in lane one.
“Checks were made to determine why lane one was not charged, and it was then, it was discovered that blocks programmed for lane one were mistakenly placed in lane four and blocks for lane four placed in lane one.
“The original decision was therefore reversed since the athlete in lane four should not have been charged.
“As there was no electronic record of a false start in lane one, it was decided to restart the race due to the configuration anomaly, hence, no athlete was disqualified,” the JAAA statement continued.
The release stressed “it is not only a visual frontal movement” that determines a false start.
It stated “any motion by an athlete that does not include or result in the athlete’s foot/feet losing contact with the foot plate(s) of the starting blocks, or the athletes’ hand/hands losing contact with the ground, shall not be considered to be the commencement of the start. Such instances may, if applicable, be subject to a disciplinary warning or disqualification.”
