3 ms·

commentators tangentially referenced this when they mentioned that lyles had "learned" how to make a good finishing lunge, but it was also heavily implied that

commentators tangentially referenced this when they mentioned that lyles had "learned" how to make a good finishing lunge, but it was also heavily implied that they were talking about the timing of the lunge and not the mechanics.

deanCommie 2y ago
Yeah, keep in mind at athletics competition, a "false start" is deemed to be anything within 100m of the actual firing gun - because that is deemed to be below the level of human perception, and therefore someone "bet" or "guessed". So I can't imagine a human can take a conscious step to get a FIVE millisecond advantage over another.
- f5ve 2y ago
  Your comment just made me realize something. The 5 milliseconds which Lyles won by is shorter than the time it takes sound to travel between his lane and Thompson's. If the starting gun were on the outside of the track (it's not), then Thompson would have actually run the race faster, if measured from the time he perceived the sound. In reality the gun is usually on the inside of the track, so it would be Lyles overcoming this (negligible) advantage.
  - yuliyp 2y ago
    There's a speaker behind each runner in the starting blocks to avoid that being a factor.
    - toyg 2y ago
      True, but each speaker is positioned slightly differently, because it's immediately behind the blocks but each athlete sets the blocks slightly differently (to accomodate their legs). So in theory... Tbh, it's all just bullshit to me. Less than 20 years ago, this would have been an ex-aequo, and glorifying someone who happened to dive 5-milliseconds-better is just sad. The obsession with "having a winner", for the benefit of sponsors and image contracts, has taken sports in some ridiculous places.
      - yuliyp 2y ago
        That's somewhat the nature of sports: the actual results always have some amount of variance. The differences between athletes are often minute enough that with slightly different circumstances the result would have been different. Yet the pressure of a smaller number of contests with outsized prizes does make for dramatic highs when winning for the competitors as well as drama for the spectators.
- smallpipe 2y ago
  Of course you can. A good drummer will not deviate from beat by that much.

deanCommie 2y ago

Yeah, keep in mind at athletics competition, a "false start" is deemed to be anything within 100m of the actual firing gun - because that is deemed to be below the level of human perception, and therefore someone "bet" or "guessed". So I can't imagine a human can take a conscious step to get a FIVE millisecond advantage over another.

f5ve 2y ago
Your comment just made me realize something. The 5 milliseconds which Lyles won by is shorter than the time it takes sound to travel between his lane and Thompson's. If the starting gun were on the outside of the track (it's not), then Thompson would have actually run the race faster, if measured from the time he perceived the sound. In reality the gun is usually on the inside of the track, so it would be Lyles overcoming this (negligible) advantage.
- yuliyp 2y ago
  There's a speaker behind each runner in the starting blocks to avoid that being a factor.
  - toyg 2y ago
    True, but each speaker is positioned slightly differently, because it's immediately behind the blocks but each athlete sets the blocks slightly differently (to accomodate their legs). So in theory... Tbh, it's all just bullshit to me. Less than 20 years ago, this would have been an ex-aequo, and glorifying someone who happened to dive 5-milliseconds-better is just sad. The obsession with "having a winner", for the benefit of sponsors and image contracts, has taken sports in some ridiculous places.
    - yuliyp 2y ago
      That's somewhat the nature of sports: the actual results always have some amount of variance. The differences between athletes are often minute enough that with slightly different circumstances the result would have been different. Yet the pressure of a smaller number of contests with outsized prizes does make for dramatic highs when winning for the competitors as well as drama for the spectators.
smallpipe 2y ago
Of course you can. A good drummer will not deviate from beat by that much.