Simultaneous injustice

A life sometimes rushes by at what feels like record speed and the older you get, the longer you want to live because you always think that you have missed out on one thing or another. The years fly by, the months and days seem to pick up speed. The watch becomes a constant companion of merciless truth. It is and remains incorruptible and its accuracy is sometimes an annoying accessory to our existence in this world. She counts down hours, minutes, seconds. Yes, it even tells us hundredths and thousandths of a second. It is a reign of terror that cannot be tamed, a torture, a needle that constantly digs into all wounds. But we need her. As a guide, as a fixed star and as an indomitable judge of victory or defeat, although the chronometer is not to blame for the fact that people are completely addicted to it and show no mercy when they use it. He just delivers. times. A hardly measurable difference Like the one in the women's 100m run at the European Championships in Munich. The name of Gina Brückenkemper from Germany was 10,99 seconds. The signal also recorded the same time for the Swiss Mujinga Kambunji. But then comes the famous bracket, in which another series of numbers appears. For Brückenkemper 984, for Kambunji 989. Five thousandths difference, which is used to make essentially invisible differences recognizable. There is also the target photo. The rule here was torso in front of shoulder. Based on these criteria, Brückenkemper became European champion, while the Swiss won the silver medal. Five thousandths of a second. A blink of an eye probably takes longer. Even hundredths of a second cannot be recognized or felt by us. Only technology allows us to banish the word “simultaneously” from our linguistic repertoire, and this also brings with it a certain injustice. For me, two gold medals would be the better solution in such a case.

And there was an increase. According to the simple reading in the results service, the Spaniard Asier Martinez won the 110m hurdles with 13,14 seconds. Oh yes, that's a good time because the championship record set by Colin Jackson (GBR) in 1998 is 13,02 seconds. A well-deserved success. But Pascal Martinot-Lagarde from France would also have been a worthy winner. He also ran 13,14 seconds and was even closer to his competitor on the track right next to him than was the case in the women's sprint. But the inexorable clock, that monster instrument with its callous mechanics, raised its index finger and pointed out the difference. The Spaniard was a thousandth of a second faster. A protest is hopeless. The numbers are recorded digitally and later even appear on paper, so that they appear to be firmly established and can never be moved. One winner and one second place. Two gold medals are possible How nice it would have been to hang a gold medal around the necks of both athletes with such a difference, even the slightest difference that we still want to measure. That would not undermine the essence of the sport, including sprinting. Twice equal to within a hundredth of a second should produce the same result. That would be fair and nice too. We fondly remember the Italian Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barshim from Qatar, who jumped the same height at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. They would have had to fight a playoff. Actually. They then asked the referee the simple question of whether two gold medals were possible. The answer was Solomonic: “If you agree.”

Gianmarco Tamberi shared the gold medal in Beijing. © APA/afp / BEN STANSALL

The reaction to this is history and the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Two golds. So it is possible. I remember a biathlon pursuit race. At the World Championships in Khanty Mansiysk in 2003, the German Martina Glagow and the French Sandrine Bailly slid across the finish line side by side. There was no difference to be seen. Glagow was initially declared the winner. After examining the target photo several times, Bailly was also awarded the gold medal. “Now it’s perfect,” said Glagow during the press conference and threw his arms around the tearful Frenchwoman’s neck. “Anything else,” said Glagow afterwards, “would have been unfair.” And she added: “If it's just a centimeter or two, there should be two first places.” She was already speaking from my heart back then.

About the person: Sigi Heinrich The renowned sports journalist, author and award-winning Eurosport commentator (including winner of the German Television Prize and the Bavarian Sports Prize) not only dedicates his column “Sigi's Spitze” to the entire diversity of sport. He also deals with topics outside of his usual profession. Sometimes very seriously, often with a mischievous wink and sometimes deliberately provocative. There should be something for everyone.

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Simultaneous injustice

At the European Championships in Munich, timekeeping once again shows its relentless side. A thousandth of a second makes the difference between gold and silver. In such cases, our columnist Sigi Heinrich would be in favor of two winners and would think that would be fairer.

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