Used as early as 1932 in Los Angeles. But I don't know if they had them in
1936.
Official times were determined on the basis of hand measurements only,
through 1960 (Rome) Examples of major distortion: Remigino, McKenly,
MacDonald Bailey and Smith running slower than 10.70 in Helsinki but all
four being timed in 10.4... compare this to Bobby Morrow in Melbourne 1956
who, although running much faster )10.62 in adverse climate condition) was
given only 10.5 seconds.
In 1948 there occurred an even a greater distortion, as the 4th finisher in
the women's 200m was awarded the bronze medal! that was not discovered until
some 30-odd years later, when Bob Sparks, the outgoing ATFS president, went
through all the files and photo-finishes, heats and finals, of old Olympic
games.
Then in 1964, it was decided to subtract 0.05 seconds from the electronic
times before rounding them OFF (not up! But to the nearest tenth! Rounding
up was implemented later). For example, Hayes' wind aided 9.91 became "9.9"
and his 10.05 in the finals, 10.0. At least they have, by then gotten the
difference between runners straight. The same "deltas" were applied in
Mexico City 1968 (Hines' 9.95 became 9.90 and 9.9, Smith's 19.83, less 0.05
was 19.78, rounded off to 19.8, but for Lee Evans' 43.86, an adjusted time
of 43.81 became 43.8 and recognized as WR for a few years as 43.8).
These were all apparent underestimates of "equivalent hand times, since with
the possible exception of UK judges, at most other places the finish line
time was taken "with anticipation" (wrong practice). In fact, in Munich
a972, a Giessen university team found the m e a n difference between
electronic and hand timing to be 0.14 for runs where the start and finish
are in the same spot (400,800,10,000). and 0.24 seconds in others.
Beginning in 1972, the times in the Olympic competition were given in
hundredth. Beginning 1974, I think (I have to verify that one) IAAF began
demand hundredths of a second and electronic timing to recognize WRs up to
400m - but not (yet) for the longer distances.
UG
____________________________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Eckmann, Drew
Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2000 6:06 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: t-and-f: First Auto Timing
Does anyone know/remember when auto timing was first used at the Olympics
and also when it was first 'officially' used as the standard at the
Olympics. Thanks./Drew
