Letter: Olympic false starts

Tuesday’s ADN reported that “Acts of kindness abound at the Olympics.” Although that may be true of the Olympic athletes themselves, as exhibited by their numerous displays of good sportsmanship, the same cannot be said about the Olympic Committee itself.

Instead of acknowledging the significant sacrifices that every athlete has made to be able to participate in the Olympics, the Olympic Committee has implemented an inflexible one-and-done rule regarding false starts for running events. According to the rules, a single false start results in instant disqualification for the offending runner, thus depriving athletes who have given their all to train for the opportunity simply to participate, and maybe even win an Olympic medal.

It is truly heartbreaking to see those hopes dashed by a single mistake on the part of nervous competitors, many operating on the world stage for the first time. Imposition of such an inflexible a rule, depriving individuals of the opportunity of competing in a once-in-a-lifetime event, is difficult to fathom. Allowing a single false start to be forgiven would not harm the efforts of other competitors or significantly delay each event. And it would enable all to participate in the events for which they have trained so diligently. Now that would be a genuine act of kindness.

— Mike Jens

Anchorage

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