When do the swimming world championships start?

Will the Usain Bolt false start at the World Championships lead to rule changes?

• Video evidence seems to show that Johan Blake, the eventual winner, illegally flinched before the start, but Bolt was disqualified for apparently reacting and leaving the blocks.

• Answer:

  I hope not. It was unfortunate that Bolt was eliminated for the false start at the 2011 World Championships. The IAAF has been debating what to do in order to prevent similar issues in the future. But personally, I'm sick of the IAAF changing the false start rules. Not only are the rule changes confusing, but returning to the past rule -- which I thought was an unfair policy  -- would be a regression for the sport.   On the high school, age group and NCAA levels, there is a zero tolerance policy for false starts at all championship meets. One false start and you're out. On the pro level, the IAAF has been a lot more permissive.   The logic is that you should let the superstars run, so the IAAF adopted lax false start rules that more or less encouraged sprinters to "jump the gun" -- or guess when the gun will go off -- in hopes of gaining an advantage at the start and running a fast time.   The past rule allowed for one false start for the field to burn. Basically, the first false start was charged to the entire field, regardless of who was at fault. The second false start would be charged to an individual, and that individual would be disqualified. How is that fair? The only difference between the first false start and the second is order of occurance. This basically encouraged everyone to cheat by taking a chance at guessing the gun because you are guaranteed to get one more chance.   The only other option to zero tolerance is giving every athlete two false starts rather than just one. But I've seen meets with that policy in place and they are very long and very annoying. Imagine a meets that are delayed by hours because in every race there are four or five different athletes have had false starts, but none have been eliminated. That's what you get with multiple individual false starts: it incentivizes athletes to guess the gun because they are guaranteed a second chance.   I feel that professional athletes should be held to a higher standard than athletes on all other levels. If a zero-tolerance policy exists on lower levels, it should be strictly enforced on the pro level.