9.77!

[BCBaroo]

wow, it's a rare piece of big track news that I hear from ESPN first...

stupid 2/1000ths

[Thor]

and what the hell, who doesnt know that you are supposed to round down :-(

Is this rounding up or down done manually (like the statement issued by IAAF implies) or automatically by the computer?

[Dietmar239]

News on the change and Asafa's reaction concerning a possible Gatlin pull-out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060517/ts ... 0517132807

[Powell]

Is this rounding up or down done manually (like the statement issued by IAAF implies) or automatically by the computer?

I guess it's a matter of the timing system setup. It should be able to do this automatically (it's no rocket science), but if it doesn't, the officials should do it.

[Powell]

stupid 2/1000ths

No, it's actually 6/1000ths. Anything slower than 9.760 will be rounded up to 9.77.

[skyin' brian]

and what the hell, who doesnt know that you are supposed to round down :-(

um...make that up, but you know what i meant

[tafnut]

Is this rounding up or down done manually (like the statement issued by IAAF implies) or automatically by the computer?

I guess it's a matter of the timing system setup. It should be able to do this automatically (it's no rocket science), but if it doesn't, the officials should do it.

Unless some new AI program has come into existence that I'm not aware of, ALL FAT times are the product of human judgement. The photo-reader lines up his/her computer cursor on what s/he thinks is the first piece of torso across the line. Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

[bekeselassie]

nless some new AI program has come into existence that I'm not aware of, ALL FAT times are the product of human judgement. The photo-reader lines up his/her computer cursor on what s/he thinks is the first piece of torso across the line. Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

Exactly why bekeselassie is stupid for having even suggested it, proving that he's just another troll who may have watched a track meet once, but knows nothing!

[Thor]

Unless some new AI program has come into existence that I'm not aware of, ALL FAT times are the product of human judgement. The photo-reader lines up his/her computer cursor on what s/he thinks is the first piece of torso across the line. Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

But after the cursor has been lined up, what then? Is the actual rounding up or down of the time done manually too?

[JRM]

Unless some new AI program has come into existence that I'm not aware of, ALL FAT times are the product of human judgement. The photo-reader lines up his/her computer cursor on what s/he thinks is the first piece of torso across the line. Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

But after the cursor has been lined up, what then? Is the actual rounding up or down of the time done manually too?

There is no rounding down -- it's only rounding up. Remember, anything different than 9.760s will become 9.77s. However, most photofinish systems do this automatically. You have the option of viewing the time to 3 decimal places, though, which is used to break ties.

Ideally, this error should not have happened. Their software was faulty, for some reason.

[Thor]

Their software was faulty, for some reason.

That's what I was getting at.

[Daisy]

Is this rounding up or down done manually (like the statement issued by IAAF implies) or automatically by the computer?

I guess it's a matter of the timing system setup. It should be able to do this automatically (it's no rocket science), but if it doesn't, the officials should do it.

Unless some new AI program has come into existence that I'm not aware of, ALL FAT times are the product of human judgement. The photo-reader lines up his/her computer cursor on what s/he thinks is the first piece of torso across the line. Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

Tafnut, I have voiced these concerns in the past and have had some very good responses from jla
at this link and tandfman at this link

[gh]

Accuracy to 1/1000s is simply not possible IMO! I've seen 1/10s errors just from an errant eyeball.

Not exactly true. It's very easy for a competent operator with good equipment to distinguish 1000ths. Used to break ties all the time. What is NOT possible is to use those as actual times, because of the tolerances involved from venue to venue. Ergo, one uses 1000ths to break, if necessary, but only reports actual times in 100ths.

I don't follow swimming well enough to know what kind of accuracy is used, but as I recall, a few years back, the changed their timing, knocking a decimal place off because they decided (the timing being stopped by touch-pad at end of the pool) that the thickness of the paint on the wall could create an extra decimal.

[tafnut]

Ideally, this error should not have happened. Their software was faulty, for some reason.

Is it? Isn't up to the operator to do the rounding? In the older days the reader had to look at the time marks at the bottom and figure out the time himself, but now there is an actual read-out of the time that corresponds to the cursor, but doesn't the reader (I'm not sure) have to do the rounding, esp. if thousandths are concerned? I am still very skeptical that a person can line up a cursor with thousandths accuracy, just by looking at the (somewhat small, somewhat blurred) picture and 'judging' the torso (shoulder, neck and arm often confuse the picture).

edit - just read gh's post and I will have to defer to his judgement of the 1/1000ths resolution accuracy (still not fully convinced). If .01 is usually equated to 3 inches, then we're talking about 1 cm (approx) in thousandths. Y'all have seen finish photos - do we really have 1cm accuracy in reading of the athletes torsos? Really?

[bekeselassie]

So all this being said, does anyone know WHO ran faster: Justin or Asafa?