Minimum increment of 1 cm in all types of jumps
This discussion has an associated proposal. View Proposal Details here.Comments about this discussion:
Started
This issue comes from a discussion we recently had in the IUF World Record Committee.
World Records in any recognised Jumps category are maintained by the IUF World Record Committee. Our rules prescribe that any jump world record is rounded DOWN to the nearest centimeter. (Admittedly, some recent World Records have slipped through this requirement, and they are to be corrected.)
The reason for the one cm resolution is that on the distances that typical jumps occur, it is not possible to measure with an accuracy below one centimeter, for a combination of several reasons:
* For any type of jump, the surface has usually irregularities in the order of several mm. Things like little stones in asphalt.
* For platform high jump and long jump, the pallets used are not a mathematical shape - they too have irregularities.
* For high jump over a bar, there is a potential parallax error in reading the true height because the bar is usually round.
* For long jump on platform, the distance between the edges is almost impossible to measure without the measuring tape sagging. The distance could alternatively be measured between the bases of the stacks, but they you rely on the stack being perfectly vertically stacked. Even if the rule changed to a single pallet, the verticality of the sides is not perfect.
* For long jump over a bar, usually slightly raised markers are used at take-off and landing, to detect if they have been touched or not. This will add some distance on each side for the marker to be really cleared.
* For any measurement, chances are that a measuring tape from a local DIY-market is used, without any calibration.
If the Rulebook would require that successive heights or distances in all four types of jumps are done on "whole centimeters" (meaning an integer number of centimeters and not a fraction), then this would be solved.
Thoughts?
Comment
I agree.
Comment
Seems logical
Comment
Looks like there are no objections. I would like to add explicitly to the proposed rule that the height or distance has to be set as accurately as possible. People should not set distances sloppily because the resolution is one cm anyway. The reason for this is optimal comparability between conventions.
If no other views are presented, I plan to create a proposal in one or two days from now.
Comment
I'm not sure that the fivefold starting rule belongs here. I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I think it belongs better next this text from 13B.9 and 13B.10 (repeated for the two long jump competitions).
"To avoid endless competitions, the length to jump will always increase by 5cm for each round. Once there are only 5 riders left..."
Comment
If you just use 13B.9 and 13B.10, it is possible to start at, say 17 cm, and then increase to 22 cm, 27 cm etc. Or even 16.7, 21.7, 26.7 etc. This is not against the current rule, but I think the intention is to use whole fivefold numbers from the start.
If this is indeed the intention, I suggest we put this in the rules somewhere. It could either be in 13B.9 and 13B.10, or (as in my proposal) in 13B.7.
If you want it in 13B.9 and 13B.10, then by the same token the whole number of centimeters start value for both types of High Jump should move to 13B.7 and 13B.8.
The new rule is then only about incrementing by whole centimeters, and about measuring as accurately as possible.
Is that better?
Comment
Upon more thought, the fivefold rule can be put in either section.