‘Is that it?’ I asked my dad. ‘Is it over?’ ‘Yes, it’s over.’ I couldn’t decide who was more disappointed: my forty year-old father or my ten year-old self. It was 27 th July 1996. A Saturday. Linford Christie had just been disqualified from the 100 metre final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. At 32, Christie became the oldest man to win Olympic 100 metre gold in Barcelona four years earlier. Just to reach a consecutive Olympic final at the grand old age of 36 was extraordinary. Linford Christie's disqualification in Atlanta proved that physical strength is only half the battle. Nowadays, of course, Christie wouldn’t have been given a second chance. As of 2010, the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) implemented a zero tolerance approach to the false start. It was a rule that attracted heavy criticism from the athletic community, and one that came under much wider scrutiny when Usain B...