On Fri, 1 Jun 2001 10:36:09 -0700 (PDT)
Dan Kaplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote,
quoting Charlie Francis' book, Speed Trap,
". . . But in 1968, when the IAAF
began to make the transition from hand to electronic timing, it bungled
the job. As an electronic clock would start the instant the gun was fired
(eliminating a human timer's reaction gap), times would be more than two
tenths of a second slower. Rather than adjust for the change by putting
the clocks on a delay, as proposed by East Germany, the IAAF let the new
and slower times tand. In so doing, they severed the 100 metres' link to
its past progression of world records dating from 1896. They had, in
effect, created a new event."
Comment:
The IAAF first implemented photo-timing at the 1964 OG
at Tokyo. The timing had to incorporate a delay of 0.05s,
and times were rounded off to the nearest 1/10s. Hence
a time could appear to be up to 1/10s faster than it
really was. A study of FULLY automatic times from the
Games of 1952, 1956, and 1960 shows that many 100m times
were certainly not more than 1/10s faster than the
official (and recognised) hand times.
The built-in delay was removed before the 1972 Games.
Rounding-off [to the nearest 1/10s] was changed [to
the full or next full 1/10s] in 1977 and dropped altogether
in 1981. These dates apply to races NG 400m; for longer
distances there were variations, but now all FAT is, of
course, to the full or next full 1/100s.
Just in case no-else has pointed out Mr Francis' error.
--"that horse's ass, P.N. from New Zealand" - M M Rohl
