THE Paris 2024 Olympics is almost at the halfway stage, with track and field events kicking off.
And some viewers are wondering what the yellow card issued to athletes during the events actually means?
Athletes are shown a yellow card if they are deemed to cause the start of the event to be aborted whilst in the starter shell.
According to the IAAF guidelines, examples of this can be holding up their hand or standing/sitting up, deliberate delays in response to the commands or moves or making noise after the athletes have settled into the ‘on your marks’ or ‘set’ position thus disturbing the concentration of fellow athletes.
In any of the above cases, start referees may award a personal warning for improper conduct to the athletes and thus show them a yellow card.
Should the athlete on a caution be at fault again, they will receive a red card and be disqualified from the event.
The showing of any card by the start referee must be seen by all athletes so nobody competing is in any doubt about the consequences or further rule violations.
The diagonal red and black card is issued to an athlete if a false start has been made.
A false start is when the runner moves before or within 0.1 seconds of the gun and If there is a false start, the race is stopped.
Previously, one false start resulted in a warning to the entire field, while a second led to disqualification regardless of the athlete.
This meant that one athlete could false start without disqualification, but if there was a second by another athlete, the racer responsible would be instantly exiled from the race.
However, the rule has now changed to anyone who false starts will be disqualified immediately.
