The sound of a gunshot cracked across the warm Rio night sky.
Runners from across the globe take off like bolts of lightning, ready to make their country proud.
Except something was off. The athletes slowed and looked around in confusion. Wilhem Belocian of France covered his face with his hands and collapsed on the ground.
No, he did not suffer an injury. In fact, he was in the best physical shape of his life, thanks to four years of hard work. Yet it all came crashing down in the blink of an eye.
Belocian was another victim of the Olympics’ overly-harsh false start rule. To the average viewer in the stands or at home, there was nothing amiss. Slow motion cameras revealed to the world that Belocian had moved a fraction of an inch before the starting shot had sounded.
Now, most would think this is no big deal. The runners would just reset and run the race again. Surely an innocent involuntary motion fueled by adrenaline would not cost an elite athlete his Olympic run.
Judging by Belocian’s reaction, this was not the case. He was done. He was going home. The Olympic committee has deemed just one false move worthy of disqualification from the athlete’s event.
The 110-meter hurdles were Belocian’s only event. The same goes for many other athletes. One event means one chance to show the world what you’re made of. It also means zero room for error.
At the most, the Olympics’ reasoning is semi-understandable. False starts slow down events, which in turn drops television ratings and result in a loss of ad revenue.
It also gives runners willing to tempt fate an unfair advantage. By guessing when the gun will sound, an athlete can take off a split second sooner than his competitors without penalty.
Before the one-and-done rule was conceived, there would be one reset for a false start. After the one warning, the next athlete to jump the gun would be disqualified, regardless whether he or she had committed the earlier violation. This reasonable rule was ditched in favor of the uncompromising standard now in place.
Other professional sports consider false starts as a mild offense worthy of a slap on the wrist. For football, a simple five-yard penalty is enough to motivate players to keep still until the snap. The Olympics would be wise to follow suit. If a runner moves that athlete is put farther back than everyone else. That’s how punishments should work, by putting the perpetrator at a disadvantage instead of rendering them completely unworthy of competing.
The IAAF has to understand that for many of these athletes, one event is all they have. Not everyone can be a Michael Phelps or a Usain Bolt, competing in a myriad of events, racking up medals left and right.
Even Bolt, the world’s fastest man, was stricken by the one-and-done rule during the World Championships in 2011. Belocian is a fine athlete, but until one of the world’s great athletes becomes a victim on the Olympic stage, it is unlikely any kind of change will come.
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brandonmtnhill