The False Start
Anecdote by Sri Chinmoy
Once in India I was using the starting blocks in a race. When you use the blocks your foot has to touch the ground. You cannot put your foot on the block unless it is also touching the ground. I was 100 percent sure that my foot was touching the ground, so I was surprised when the official gave me a false start. He said my left foot was not touching the ground.
The official felt sorry for me but he couldn’t tell me what I was supposed to do. He could tell by looking that my left foot was not touching the ground, but he couldn’t say anything to correct it. So I took a standing start, which is useless. Even then I won the 200-metre dash. Then afterwards he saw me on the street and said, “I feel very sorry about your timing.”
I said, “I was first.”
He said, “That is true, but if you had started from the crouching position, your timing would have been better.”
Published in Run and Become, Become and Run, part 11