Goucher Needles wrote:
Kipsang false started and then broke the WR. He'd clearly have broken the WR anyways, but does that exempt him from jumping the gun. It's a race and there are rules. I think it is important so say, "We are not enforcing the rules," in this case. I think there should be an explanation why. Maybe it could be said that not enforcing the rule would violate the spirit of the rule itself (i.e. Kipsang didn't get an unfair advantage.)
People have misunderstood what Renato seems to be trying to say, which is that what counts for official time is the gun time. If you start before the gun goes it doesn't matter what your chip time is, whether it is a half second faster because you jumped the gun or whatever the case may be, as your official record-worthy time starts at the gun. Thus there is no inherent advantage or penalty to jumping the gun, although I imagine something really excessive would have consequences. In track races I don't believe this is the case, hence the false starts there.