Will a Silent Gun Be Used at the Olympics?

What is a silent gun?

questioner 2 wrote:

What is a silent gun?

The regular style of starting gun makes a bang which is heard first by runners close to the gun, giving an advantage to those runners. The silent gun eliminates this problem because it is, as the name suggests, silent. It can't be heard by anyone, so no athlete is at an advantage. Each athlete just has to make their best guess as to when the race has started and the issue of reacting to the gun is eliminated.

Read the article

Well after skimming the article I guess the real question is if Seiko (sp?) is the official timer of the games as it appears (according to the article) they are the only company that has developed a silent gun.

I recall discussing this issue with the timing crew in connection with deciding the finalists for the 60m at the Heps several years ago, basically the athlete is disadvantaged ~0.001s/ft.

However in my experience the article is wrong about the 'bang' not coming through the speakers, in the meets where I've competed and such blocks were used the 'bang' also came from the blocks. It's true that you hear a double bang but you train yourself to ignore it.

Not the point but....when does lane 1 ever win?

dead poets society wrote:

Not the point but....when does lane 1 ever win?

I am really furious that human beings running a sport event would hold up a GUN to show all the children. When will we learn that guns are killing our children all over this nation. Lets get rid of them all like other countries! My children first saw a man smoking a cigarette at the NON fence line...a CIGARETTE! Then my kids ask me about this gun all the time, out on the track! Vote liberal cause Obama will get RID of guns for good!

dead poets society wrote:

Not the point but....when does lane 1 ever win?

John Aki-Bua won the '72 400H from lane 1

Off the Grid wrote:

dead poets society wrote:

Not the point but....when does lane 1 ever win?

John Aki-Bua won the '72 400H from lane 1

In a WR no less -- first man under 48!

Last year at state there were a bunch of sprinters from a school for the deaf. Out of necessity, they just looked at the smoke from the gun, which one would see earlier since light travels much much faster than sound. They were consistently some of the quickest runners out of the blocks. Wouldn't that be the best way for every runner to eliminate this time lapse caused by the time it takes for sound to get there?

Alonzo Babers won the 84 OLY 400 from Lane 1, and Angelo Taylor won the 2000 OLY 400 Hurdles from Lane 1. Not that these races are as affected since the starter stands in the middle of the turn, but it is even more difficult to win a race around the curves from lane 1. With the 100, you don't normally have a favorite wind up in lane 1 due to running a bit slower in the semi final than say the 400 or 400H, which is why you don't see anyone winning the 100 from lane 1 a lot of times.

Who cares what kind of gun you skinny runts use at your olympics? You will never satisfy a woman, they need a REAL MAN!

ha ha ha ha HAHAHAHAHA!

MR. CHEST

Harry Kooter wrote:

The silent gun eliminates this problem because it is, as the name suggests, silent. It can't be heard by anyone, so no athlete is at an advantage. Each athlete just has to make their best guess as to when the race has started and the issue of reacting to the gun is eliminated.

Okay, I lol'd. I can't believe everybody else just let this one go...

I'm not sure but I believe this new press release is referring to an independent study suppporing the same conclusion. They did it experimentally and found converging evidence.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080618094349.htm

Whoops - Wejo already posted that link. Please disregard my post.

Why don't they just move the starter down the track a bit. In college, I usually paid more attention to the smoke coming out the gun then the noise. Or have the starter fire the gun from lane 4 behind the athletes.

obvious solution wrote:

Why don't they just move the starter down the track a bit. In college, I usually paid more attention to the smoke coming out the gun then the noise. Or have the starter fire the gun from lane 4 behind the athletes.

No sprinter should be looking for the smoke since that would put them in a bad starting position (unless they're deaf of course), which would cost them more in performance than the extra delay time. Regarding the position of the starter: in the straight sprints standing in the center lane behind the athletes would minimize the delay for the center lanes but would still disadvantage the outer lanes (~0.01s), in staggered races the starter is required to take up a position so that the distance to all athletes is approximately equal. (NCAA Rule 3-9)