This has bothered me for nearly 40 years. Steve Lewis false started. The crowd (many of whom had come to see Lewis run) was upset and angry. The officials, perhaps fearing a riot, gave Lewis a pass, allowing him a second chance. They cited the sound made by cameras, a highly questioneable argument as there is no cameraman exception to the false start rule. Lewis went on to win the race. A great injustice to all the other runners in the race.
Sorry for my misspelling.
For those who don't know, Lewis was a superb runner. He won Olympic gold in the 400 at the summer Olympics in 1988.
40 years? time to let it go?
At a sectional (the step below state) swim and dive meet my daughter was in, the favorite to win the diving lost her balance and fell off the board which would result in a zero score and pretty much take her out of state contention. She treaded water in the pool beneath the board so the next girl couldn’t go, and pleaded with the officials claiming that she had been distracted by some noise from the audience. The officials bought it, made an announcement asking people to be quiet when divers are on the board (which is standard courtesy in the sport but I don’t think anyone had made any noise), and let her retry her dive. She went on to win and my daughter finished in the first spot that missed state.
So I feel your pain, man. Sometimes high school officials just kind of give in and bend the rules when something odd happens.
Counting the days until 2064 when Steve Lewis responds to your post ...