The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the body that governs world athletics, or track and field, today changed its false-start rule which lets the first offender in a race off the hook and charges the entire field with the offense. This means that the second athlete who false starts will be out.
Under the new rule, the first offender will be immediately disqualified. The change approved by a vote of 97-55 with six abstentions will be in effect next year (2010), while the World Championships that begins Saturday will use the old rule. The next Worlds after this year’s will be in 2011 in South Korean.
There has been mounting criticism about the current rule based on the assumption that some athletes use it as a ploy to rattle their opponents’ nerves to get anedge.