Beijing: A ‘what if?’ has been introduced to the final standing of the women’s 100m result of the Beijing Olympics with it coming to light that US athlete Tori Edwards may have had a false start.

USA Athletics lodged a protest claiming that after assuming the final set position, Edwards had commenced a starting motion before the report of the gun and it should have been called a false start.

Coming into the race Edwards had notched the season’s best time of 10.78 seconds, exactly the same as the gold winner Shelly-Ann Fraser effort on Sunday. At the Beijing final she clocked 11.20 to come in last.  Turn to

Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart who came in joint-second acknowledged that there may well have been a false start. “I felt the false start,” she said in the late night press conference after the race. Stewart was right next to Edwards in the starting line-up. When asked by a journalist as to whether that may have affected her chances, she said: “Who knows what the outcome may have been?”

Stewart also did emphasise that there was nothing more to be done about the issue and that it was a proud moment for her country. Stewart and Sherone Simpson were declared second clocking an identical 10.98.

The question that arises is as to whether both Stewart and Edwards checked their initial spurt from the blocks on account of what they apparently believed was a false start by the latter and would have led to the race being restarted if it would have been called by the starter.

The US protest was later dismissed though it led to the medal ceremony being postponed to Monday.
Source : DNA