I searched and couldn't find this posted, but I could have missed it.
Anyways, its pretty interesting because the official basically says Cavic touched first, but didn't "push" and slid, while Phelps pushed with force, etc etc. (He talks about this right at halfway through the video)
www.swimchampions.com/.../
Personally I think you have to live with however the time system works as long as it is functional. If it was functional and Cavic didn't press hard enough, its tough luck.
The only alternative is to just present a "tie" when you are within the margin of error of the equipment.
Aren't official pools certified by a surveyor to make sure there no such discrepancies? The stress is on "official" and "certified".
Yes, but there's still a tolerance. Pools are allowed a positive tolerance (i.e., too long) of 3 cm. The negative tolerance is zero (i.e., every lane must measure at least 25 meters or 50 meters, but not to exceed 25.03 or 50.03 meters). I went over this calculation before, but if we assume a 20 second 50 meter swim, that means the swimmer is traveling an average of 2.5 m/s. In .01 seconds they would move forward by 2.5 cm which--curiously enough--is very close to the tolerance value on the pool length.
Aren't official pools certified by a surveyor to make sure there no such discrepancies? The stress is on "official" and "certified".
Yes, but there's still a tolerance. Pools are allowed a positive tolerance (i.e., too long) of 3 cm. The negative tolerance is zero (i.e., every lane must measure at least 25 meters or 50 meters, but not to exceed 25.03 or 50.03 meters). I went over this calculation before, but if we assume a 20 second 50 meter swim, that means the swimmer is traveling an average of 2.5 m/s. In .01 seconds they would move forward by 2.5 cm which--curiously enough--is very close to the tolerance value on the pool length.
