Source: The Telegraph

Written by Simon Hart

In the interests of clarity and fairness, organisers of the London Olympics should  include the following warning in their Games schedule for anyone interested in buying a ticket for the second morning of athletics on Aug 4, 2012: “The men’s 100 metres classification heats will not feature Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, Christophe Lemaitre or anyone you really want to see.”

The decision of the International Association of Athletics Federations to change the format of the men’s and women’s 100m and give sprinters with the ‘A’ or ‘B’ qualifying standard an automatic bye into the next round is a puzzling own goal for an organisation seeking to grow its global fan base.

Instead of seeing some of the world’s greatest athletes in action in the first session in the Olympic Stadium, paying customers will see a tear-up between the best from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, American Samoa, Cook Islands and Tuvalu. Welcome to the blue riband event of the greatest sporting festival on earth.

The changes are a classic case of fixing something that ain’t broke.

The first round of the 100 metres may go on a bit – there were 12 men’s heats in Beijing in 2008 – but the spectacle of the sport’s biggest names lining up against the minnows is always enjoyable.

The fact that in some races the difference between first and last can be 20 metres or more only adds to the entertainment. We all love those Eric ‘the eel’ Moussambani moments, which remind us of the universality of the Games and the quaint old Olympic motto about taking part being more important than winning.

And let us not forget that the athletes at the bottom of the rankings are still the best in their respective countries. They deserve the full Olympic experience, not a second-rate qualifying round for the have-nots of world athletics in front of an indifferent crowd.

One of the IAAF’s arguments is that requiring Bolt and Co to run three rounds instead of four will cut down on fatigue and encourage faster times. But the four-round format didn’t seem to have much effect on the Jamaican when he smashed the world record in Beijing and then smashed it again (after four rounds) at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

In fact, you could argue that a first round of heats gives the likes of Bolt the chance to blow away the cobwebs and get used to the track and stadium without any pressure of elimination.

The other justification is the IAAF’s desire for shorter, punchier sessions. But given the choice between a dozen star-laden heats or three or four ‘classification’ heats between a bunch of unknowns, I think we know what the London crowd would prefer.

It is hard enough to see Bolt in action in the UK these days since the introduction of punitive tax rules for overseas sports stars made it uneconomic for him to compete at British meets. So why make it even harder?

An additional change from four to three rounds in the 200m (without a classification round) reduces the number of opportunities to see the great man in action even further, and for no good reason.

With tickets for the evening finals sessions likely to be balloted, the morning sessions offer the best chance to see some athletics, and the London organisers are offering the extra incentive of ‘pay your age’ deals for under-16s and reductions for over-60s.

What would have been a fantastic way to showcase the sport’s biggest stars to a new generation of fans has, sadly, been thrown away.