Sports
‘False-Start Rule Remains’
Athletics’ governing body has confirmed that it will not change the false-start rule before the 2012 Olympics in London.
The rule, which sees any athlete making a false start disqualified, led to world record holder Usain Bolt missing the 100m final.
But President Lamine Diack said no one at yesterday’s IAAF council meeting had asked for the rule to be changed.
Diack said: “We will not come back to the issue. Bolt had a false start but that is not going to make us change.”
Many, including Jamaican officials, had called for the IAAF to reconsider the rule to avoid having a star like Bolt disqualified in similar circumstances in London.
Yet the athlete himself said his disqualification had been “a lesson” and did not demand a change to the rules, as Diack pointed out.
IAAF Vice-President Bob Hersh had earlier said no action should be taken until further talks.
“It’s not on any current agenda but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were reviewed,” Hersh told BBC sports editor David Bond.
“We will have to go back and talk to our stakeholders and discuss further.”
Hersh also pointed out that Bolt, the 100m world record-holder and the reigning Olympic 100m and 200m champion, had backed the new rule when it was proposed in 2009.
Former world 1500m champion and BBC commentator Steve Cram also agrees with the rule, which was amended in 2010 to automatically disqualify anyone moving before the gun.
He said: “There’s nothing wrong with the false-start rule, people have got used to it and accept it and actually it’s there to help people like him.
“Having this rule of no twitching, one and you’re out, stops people messing around.”
Until 2001, every athlete had the right to one false start before risking disqualification but that led on occasion to several aborted starts before a race took place and was changed partly because of demands from television broadcasters.
Under the second version of the rule, athletes had the right to make one false start and then the whole field was given a warning with any subsequent false starts leading to disqualification.
But that brought the risk of what IAAF director of communications Nick Davies called “a bit of gamesmanship”, with athletes looking to remove any advantage fast starters have by deliberately false starting to put the field under pressure, hence a further change for 2010.
The World Championships also saw high-profile false-start disqualifications for British duo Christine Ohuruogu and Dwain Chambers.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.
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