Sport

One false start and you are out

DOHA, QATAR (AP)

ONE FALSE START and you're out. The IAAF Council proposed a no-false-start rule yesterday, meaning a sprinter in the Olympics or World Championships who jumps the gun would be immediately disqualified with no second chance.

The full congress of the International Association of Athletics Federations will vote on the proposed change in August.

Under the current rule, brought into effect two years ago, a first false start is charged against the whole field _ no matter the offender. After that, any runner jumping the gun is disqualified.

"The opinion of a majority of council members was that this rule change would prevent gamesmanship, by penalising those athletes who deliberately false start to unsettle their rivals," IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai said.

Flopped

The present rule created chaos at the World Championships two years ago in Paris. After being called for a false start and disqualified, American sprinter Jon Drummond flopped on his back in his lane, folded his arms across his chest, and refused for five minutes to leave the track.

Under a previous rule, each runner was allowed one false start, and was disqualified for a second.

The no-false-start rule is the standard used by the NCAA, the governing body of college sports in the United States. Anyone who false starts once is disqualified.

The IAAF Council also chose the Hungarian city of Debrecen to host the 2006 World Road Running Championships. The Czech city of Ostrava will stage the World Youth Championships in 2007.

On Sunday, the Council proposed that athletes changing their nationality must wait three years before they can compete for their adopted country. The old rule allowed for a shorter waiting period.