Bolt Disappoints in Daegu

Aug 28, 2011 by

The world record holder in the 10m and 200m races, Mr. Usain Bolt, let down fans everywhere by false starting in the final of the 100m yesterday. Bolt was thus disqualified from the race and did not win what was surely to be a World Championships Gold Medal in Daegu, Korea. The fastest man in the world was clearly upset about this, but in the end it was his own fault and he will have a chance to redeem himself in the 200m finals on this Saturday, that is, if he makes it through the heats on Thursday and semi-finals on Friday.

There was some speculation that Bolt purposefully false started to avoid the mandatory drug testing for top finishers in the finals, but if he lines up for the 200m heats on Thursday as expected, this clearly will not be the case. Most all performance enhancing drugs cannot be cleared from the human body in that short of a time period, so it would be obvious that Bolt is not doping if he raced in the 200m final. However, there will surely be massive speculation if he false starts again, or gets DQ-ed for stepping in another lane, or for any other reason. The prospect of Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world and most likely the fastest man in the history of the world, doping to obtain his superior speed, would be a huge blow to the sport, as previous doping cases in athletics have destroyed the reputation of the suffering sport.

The World Track and Field Championships, which happens every other year, to many is simply a warm up for the Olympic Games, which is why many fans of the sport are not overly concerned with the DQ. If this had been the Olympic Games, there would be outrage at the “one and done” rule, which states that the first time an athlete false starts in a final counts as a disqualification. Many track and field fanatics, especially when it comes to fans of the sprints, feel that the first false start should be counted against the field, and then disqualifications should only happen after the first one counted against the field. That means that no matter who false starts the first time, everyone goes back to the line to start again. Then, if someone false starts the second time around, whether or not they jumped the gun too early the first time or not, that person is then disqualified and the remainder of the field goes back to the line to start again. Since this is the World Championships and not the Olympic Games- which happens half as often, however, there is not quite as much outrage that the fastest man in the world didn’t get a chance to compete. We can only hope that London 2012 doesn’t happen in quite the same fashion.