Earlier today, someone wrote: > Once again, in its latest issue, Track and Field News takes up the >question of "Volzing" and onmce again insults the iltelligence of its >readers with this offhand remarkj: "Offensive as Volzing may be to purists." > > IIt is not a question of pursist, it is a question of what is right >and wrong. Volzing is a deliberate vilation of the rules, so bad that severe >penalties should be placed on vaulters who regularly use it. I am talming >about long-term suspension from the sport, not just negating the vaulkt on >which it takes place, not evben just disqualifying the vaulter from the >evenmt.
I wonder if the author of those remarks would accept a small rephrasing: "False starting is a deliberate violation of the rules. Severe penalties should be placed on sprinters who deliberately use it. I am talking about long-term suspension from the sport; not just negating the start in which it takes place, not even just disqualifying the sprinter from the event." He also wrote: > The article also refers to oficials who won't call it. These officials >should simply have their card taken away from them. They are there to >enforce the rules and this is a basic one---no deliberate touching of the >bar to gain an advantage. A key phrase there is, "to gain an advantage." I am sure that it will always be a problem for an official to judge whether the vaulter's motive in pushing the bar away with his hands is to keep it from falling or to keep it from rebounding into his face. I have quite obvious scars on my upper lip from repeated failures to "Volz" the crossbar away during the course of 35 years of vaulting. The rule should be simplified: If the vaulter touches the crossbar with his hands, it should be counted as a missed try. Period. The earlier post concludes: >(There) should be a graduated penalty for consistent violations, ending, if >necessary, with a lifetime ban for the athlete I would invite the writer of that remark to check the "Hall of Fame" picture of a vaulter on page 128 in the 2001 edition of the ATFS annual. The vaulter clearly is deliberately grasping the bar. I would think he is defending himself from it. Another viewer might think he is trying to gain an advantage. Fortunately, he was not subjected to a lifetime ban because an official chose the latter interpretation. Cheers, Roger Oh. In case you don't have your copy of the 2001 Annual at hand, the vaulter is Sergey Bubka.
