Olympic sprinting - not fair?

Jesse Owens - 1936 Berlin Olympics [image: LOC@flickr ]

When Olympic sprinters dash down the track in Beijing this August, the fastest athlete may not take home the gold medal. Current start-gun technology gives athletes on the inside lanes an unfair advantage right off the blocks. Although officials are aware of the problem, they have no plans to correct it before the Beijing games this summer. Sound from the starter's gun is known to take longer to reach athletes who start from the outside lanes than their competitors on the inside. Now a new study suggests that competitors nearest the gun have another advantage – the loudness of the bang shocks them into starting more quickly.