False start

In sports, a false start is a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result in a penalty against the athlete's or team's field position, a warning that a subsequent false start will result in disqualification, or immediate disqualification of the athlete from further competition.

False starts are common in racing sports (such as swimming, track, sprinting, and motor sports), where differences are made by fractions of a second and where anxiety to get the best start plays a role in the athletes' behavior.

A race that is started cleanly, on the contrary, is referred to as a fair start or clean start.

In sports

American and Canadian football

In American football and Canadian football, a false start is movement by an offensive player (other than the center) after he has taken a set position. For offensive linemen, this movement might be as minimal as a couple of centimeters, although the rule's intent is to prevent offensive players from unfairly drawing the defense offside. A false start brings a penalty of five yards. Unlike an offsides penalty, where the play is run as usual, the play after a false start penalty immediately becomes dead. This is done to prevent a defensive player reacting to a false start from hitting the quarterback while going through the snap count, which would make the quarterback more susceptible to injury.

Usain Bolt

Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, CD (/ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter. Regarded as the fastest person ever timed, he is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977. Along with his teammates, he also set the world record in the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and the first man since Leonidas of Rhodes to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, and an eleven-time World champion. He was the first to achieve the "double double" of winning 100 m and 200 m titles at consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012), and topped this through the first "double triple" (including 4×100 m relays).

Although gaining worldwide popularity for a sprint double victory at the Beijing Games, Bolt has had more victories as a 200 m runner. While he had not won any significant 100 m title prior to the 2008 Olympics, he had won numerous crowns in the 200 m event at the youth, junior and senior levels. Further, at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Bolt completed a hat-trick of 200 m world titles by winning his third straight gold in the event. His 2009 record breaking margin for 100 m, from 9.69 seconds (his own previous world record) to 9.58, is the highest since the start of fully automatic time measurements.

Yohan Blake

Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989), is a Jamaican sprinter of the 100-metre and 200-metre sprint races. He won a gold medal at the 100 m at the 2011 world championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ever, and a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 100 m and 200 m races for the Jamaican team. He is known by the nickname "The Beast".

Blake's 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds makes him the equal second fastest man ever with Tyson Gay after Usain Bolt. His personal best for the 200 m (19.26 seconds) is the second fastest ever after Bolt. He holds the national junior record for the 100 metres, and was formerly the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier (at 19 years, 196 days).

He is coached by Glen Mills. His training partners are Usain Bolt and Daniel Bailey.

Early life

Blake attended St. Jago High School in Spanish Town where his first sporting love was cricket. Blake was a fast bowler, and it was only after the school Principal saw how quickly he ran to the wicket that he was urged to try sprinting.