RULE 230 of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rulebook is not common knowledge to most fans watching the Olympics, but it is likely to be among the most frequently invoked regulation of this Olympiad. Paragraph two of the laws of race walking define the sport as “a progression of steps so taken that the walker makes contact with the ground, so that no visible (to the human eye) loss of contact occurs”. But try walking at any pace and you quickly realise that keeping one foot in touch with the ground is easier said than done. Competitors who break this rule are first cautioned, then eventually disqualified if they repeatedly infringe it.
The imposition of the rules at the men’s 20km race, held on August 12th, and at the men’s and women’s 50km races to be held on August 19th in Rio de Janeiro, is arguably as interesting as the human endeavour of walking 20km in less than 80 minutes. The wrinkle is in the reading of the parenthetical phrase tucked into the regulations: “to the human eye”. At an Olympic Games where some sports are being broadcast in Japan at 8K resolution—packing 16 times as many pixels of...Continue reading