The hope of World Athletics, the governing body of track and field, is that by hosting the event in the United States, a biennial international competition, the sport will gain greater access to the lucrative media market.

Statistically, more American high school students participate in athletics than in any other sport. And no country comes close when you look at medals from the Olympics and Worlds. However, the same athletes who dominate international competitions have to spend most of their careers abroad, where they meet the elite and money is easy to come by.

But the brutal start-with-you-out rule, which is now chosen by a seemingly unchanging number, and a broadcast system that sometimes prefers “America’s Got Talent” over it. some of the fastest athletes in the world, it can’t help because.

On Sunday, the United States won nine of the 21 medals awarded in the last seven games, but two stories dominated the television at the end of the day: Jamaican women swept the 100 meters again, and a “false” start for the American athlete Devon Allen.

Allen was one of three athletes on the night who were affected by the World Athletics fraud law. His elimination came in the 110 hurdles gold medal race; In the women’s 100m semifinals, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia and TyNia Gaither of the Bahamas were both DQ’d.

For events up to 400 meters, runners use starting blocks. Each part of the blocks is wired, and a pressure sensor detects whether the runner is moving on his feet before the trigger or if he is doing it “too fast.” WA dictates that any reaction time under 0.100 seconds is a false start.

What is the basis of those limits? Your opinion is as good as ours.

In 2009, WA – then known as the IAAF – launched a study that showed times as fast as 0.080 seconds. However the organization adheres to the standard of 0.100, and it is hard and fast. According to the computer, Allen’s time was 0.099, or one thousandth of a second to infinity. It wasn’t visible to the eyes on the replay clock, whether it was normal speed or slo-mo.

Allen, who earlier this year ran the third fastest time in history, was out. Imagine if the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald was ejected from the Super Bowl in February after a false start. Onsers, okay? This is what World Athletics does for its athletes on one of the biggest stages of the sport.

The World Athletics Games had a different rule for the competition: the first false start went on the field, regardless of who did it. If there was a second false start, the offender was out.

It wasn’t just the fans and media that were upset about what happened to Allen, Julien and Gaither – the athletes were too. The famous athlete Michael Johnson tweeted Allen was “kidnapped because of the old law”; Morolake Akinosun, who won a 2016 Olympic gold medal as part of the US 4x100m relay, said Allen “has done something in his life. This is very bad.” On NBC Monday night, Ato Bolden and Sanya Richards-Ross both strongly criticized the WA administration.

Here are the top American sports that many are missing from the World Championship

This rule is bad for the sport, but if making track more popular in the United States was the goal of having the World Championship here for the first time, that broadcasting is easily available and every possible broadcast was necessary, and this is not the case. seems to be happening.

For the most part, American sports fans don’t know Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs, or Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad. It is very embarrassing. If consistent control and regular riding is your cup of competitive tea, you need to know who it is.

In four major sporting events – the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, and the 2019 and 2022 Worlds – Crouser and Kovacs have been the gold and silver medalists. In June 2021 at the US Olympic Trials, Crouser broke the men’s world record, which had stood for more than 20 years.

In Sunday night’s sixth-place playoff game, Crouser and Kovacs had a performance for the ages. In the first of the two throws, Crouser recorded 22.21 meters (72 feet, 10.5 inches) on his first attempt. A few seconds later, Kovacs threw 22.63m (74-3). Crouser’s second throw was 22.71m (74-6) and he improved to 22.94m (75-3) on his fifth attempt. Kovacs’ fifth attempt was 22.89m (75-1.25), coming in closest. The casting order was broken before the final round, so the eighth-place finisher went first and the first-place finisher went last; Kovacs’ last throw wasn’t enough to get past Crouser. The Americans swept the medals, with Josh Awotunde besting a lifetime best of 22.29m (75-1.5) for a fifth-best bronze.

McLaughlin, at just 22 years old, lowered the world record in the 400 meters all three times he ran in the final, and in the first two he was beaten by Muhammad, who already held the world record. . Muhammad did not compete in the US race last month because as a world champion he had been this year, and McLaughlin won so much that there was no one on television with him when he crossed the finish line.

Crouser, Kovacs, McLaughlin and Muhammad are just four examples of amazing American athletes. On Sunday night, when the United States won gold medals in the men’s shot put, the men’s 110-meter hurdles and the women’s hurdles, Rob Walker, referring to the Peacock River, said several times that it might be the child who watches Crouser or the champion fencer Katie Nageotte. He was inspired to follow in their footsteps.

But if you don’t pay for the Peacock premium, you won’t see all the action, and if you live in the Mountain Time Zone, NBC didn’t show what Sunday was doing, it showed “AGT,” which was taped last week. , then aired that night’s running game late.

In the social media generation, it doesn’t make sense. If you’re trying to get interested in a sport that’s easily accessible – you just need a good pair of running shoes to get started – it doesn’t make sense.

Track and field is a great sport. World Athletics is destroying its results.





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