False start
Encyclopedia
In sports, a false start is a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result in immediate disqualification of the athlete from further competition, a warning in which a subsequent false start would result in disqualification, or a penalty against the athlete's or team's field position.

False starts are common in racing sports (such as swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, sprinting
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

, and motor sports), where differences are made by fractions of a second that often cannot be comprehended by the human mind, and where anxiety to get the best start plays a role in the athletes' behavior. False starts are signalled by firing the starting gun twice.

A race that is started cleanly, on the contrary, is referred to as a fair start or clean start.

American football

In American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, a false start is movement by an offensive player (other than the center) after he has taken a set position. For offensive linemen, this movement might be as minute as a couple of centimeters, although the rule's intent is to prevent offensive players from unfairly drawing the defense offside. A false start brings a penalty
Penalty (American football)
In American football and Canadian football, a penalty is a sanction called against a team for a violation of the rules, called a foul. Officials initially signal penalties by tossing a bright yellow or orange colored "penalty flag" onto the field toward or at the spot of a foul...

 of five yards. Unlike an offsides penalty, the play becomes a dead ball immediately after a false start has been committed while with an offsides penalty, the play is run as usual. This is done to prevent a defensive player reacting to a false start from hitting the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 while going through the snap count, which would make the quarterback more susceptible to injury.

At the end of the 2005 NFL season
2005 NFL season
The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...

, owners complained regarding false start penalties on players whose flinches have little effect upon the start of the play, such as wide receivers. In response, the NFL competition committee has said that they plan to inflict fewer false start penalties on players who line up behind the line of scrimmage.

Athletics (track and field)

In track and field sprint
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...

s, the sport's governing body, the IAAF, has a rule that if the athlete moves within 0.10 seconds after the gun has fired the athlete has false started. This figure is based on tests that show the human brain cannot hear and process the information from the start sound in under 0.10 seconds. This rule is only applied at high-level meets where fully automated force or motion sensor devices are built into the starting blocks that are tied via computer with the starter's gun. In the vast majority of lower-level meets, false starts are determined visually by the officials.

From 2003, IAAF rules stated that after any false start committed, all athletes were to be warned. Any subsequent false start by any athlete, or athletes, led to immediate disqualification of that latter athlete. Previously, disqualification occurred only after the same athlete false-started twice.

An analysis of start times by sprinters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics demonstrated that male and female sprinters can achieve reaction times of 109 and 121 ms in one out of 1,000 starts . The same analysis showed fewer false starts among the women and it suggests that the apparent sex difference is caused by the use of the same starting block force threshold for males and females. The authors calculated that were the force threshold to be reduced by 22% for females, in order to take into account their lower rate of developing muscle strength, then males and females would exhibit similar reaction times, and numbers of false starts.

In August 2009 the IAAF announced that from January 2010, a zero-tolerance stance to false-starts would be adopted. Athletes false starting are now immediately disqualified.
For example, in the IAAF 2011 World Championships in Athletics
2011 World Championships in Athletics
The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011....

 100 meters final, the world record holder, Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...

, was disqualified because of his false-start, while Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu
Christine Ohuruogu
Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu MBE is an English athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres; the event for which she is the current Olympic and former World and Commonwealth Champion...

 suffered a similar fate in the 400m heats.

Horse racing

In thoroughbred horse racing, a false start occurs when a horse breaks through the starting gates before they open. A notable example was the 2006 Preakness Stakes when Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro
Barbaro
Barbaro was an American thoroughbred who decisively won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but shattered his leg two weeks later in the 2006 Preakness Stakes, ending his racing career and eventually leading to his death....

 broke through the gate early; he was reloaded and the race was started properly.

Ice hockey

In ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, a false start occurs when a team commits a faceoff
Faceoff
A face-off is the method used to begin play in ice hockey and some other sports. The two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing centres attempt to gain control of the puck after it is dropped between their sticks by an official. One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice...

 violation. When this occurs, the player taking the face-off from the offending team is replaced by a teammate.

Sailing

In sailing
Yacht racing
Yacht racing is the sport of competitive yachting.While sailing groups organize the most active and popular competitive yachting, other boating events are also held world-wide: speed motorboat racing; competitive canoeing, kayaking, and rowing; model yachting; and navigational contests Yacht racing...

, the race committee decides at the preparatory signal (usually 4 minutes before the start) what the rules on false starting will be by display the P, I, Z or Black Flags.

A P Flag means any boat on the course side (OCS) of the start line at the starting signal must return, clear the start line and then re-start. The I Flag means a boat which is OCS must round either end of the start line by coming back to the pre-start side and then re-starting (the 'round the ends' rule). The Z Flag means a boat which is OCS in the minute leading up to the start or at the start itself is given a 20% scoring penalty. The Black Flag means a boat which is OCS in the minute leading up to the start or at the start itself is disqualified.

Failing to return to start correctly under the P or I Flag rules means the boat is scored OCS and receives points equivalent to disqualification.

Swimming

In swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, any swimmer who starts before the starting signal is given an automatic disqualification.

A notable example during the 2008 Olympics occurred when Jiaying Pang was disqualified due to a false start. This allowed Libby Trickett to advance to the final round, in which she won a silver medal.

In entertainment

In a live musical performance, a false start is an intro to a song that is quickly cut short to begin another song. One famous example is Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

 playing "Radio Radio" on a television broadcast of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

.

The version of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' song "I'm Looking Through You
I'm Looking Through You
"I'm Looking Through You" is a Lennon–McCartney song, written mainly by Paul McCartney, that first appeared on The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul....

" which appeared on the North American editions of Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market...

has a false start at the beginning. There is also a false start on "Dig a Pony
Dig a Pony
"Dig a Pony" is a song by The Beatles, originally released on their 1970 album Let It Be. "Dig a Pony" was the penultimate song played at the concert on the rooftop of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London on 30 January 1969.-Composition:...

" from Let It Be
Let It Be (album)
Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up....

when Ringo Starr, yells "Hold it!" to stop the song because he had to put out his cigarette.

The Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...

's hit song "Rockaria!
Rockaria!
"Rockaria!" is a song by Electric Light Orchestra. It was the third track on the band's successful 1976 album A New World Record and was the second single from the album. Featuring the operatic voice of Mary Thomas during the introduction, she flubbed the first take by starting the vocals too early...

" features the operatic voice of Mary Thomas during the introduction. She flubbed the first take by starting the vocals too early. However, Jeff Lynne elected to use the take (complete with her interjection, "Oops!") anyway.

Chicago's song "Happy Man" begins with a false start and some studio chatter. This appears only on the "Chicago VII
Chicago VII
Chicago VII is the seventh album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1974. It is notable for being their first double album of new material since 1971's Chicago III, and remains their final studio release in that format....

" album and is deleted on Chicago's compilation albums.

In a Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...

 song, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
-Charts:-Covers:* Rancid have covered the song in some acoustic performances, Matt Freeman is the lead vocalist in the cover.* Comedian Tim Hawkins plays a parody of the song entitled "These Are Things You Don't Say to Your Wife"...

", two false starts are heard on guitar.

The song Old Time Rock and Roll
Old Time Rock and Roll
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is the title of a song by Bob Seger featured on his 1978 album Stranger in Town and released as a single in 1979. It is a nostalgic look at the music of a previous generation. The song was featured in the Tom Cruise film Risky Business and gained widespread fame because of...

 by Bob Seger has a false start on the piano. First, the piano does a riff, then after 2 seconds, it repeats the riff. Bob Seger commented that he liked the false start and kept it for the master recording.

The song "Tangerine
Tangerine (Led Zeppelin song)
"Tangerine" is a folk rock song composed by Jimmy Page and performed by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on their 1970 album Led Zeppelin III....

" by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...

 has a false start when guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...

 stops in the beginning to set the tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 of the song.

The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...

 song "Magnolia Simms" has two false starts, after which Mike Nesmith sighs, "Just one of those days."

In the James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...

 song "You're Beautiful
You're Beautiful
"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek, and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam . It was released as the third single from the album in 2005. In the UK and Australia the song reached number one and number two respectively...

", Blunt sings "My life is brilliant" eight bars into the introduction, then is silent for another few bars before beginning the song with the same lyric. In his parody of the song ("You're Pitiful
You're Pitiful
"You're Pitiful" is a parody of "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt written and recorded by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was released exclusively online in June 2006...

"), "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

mimics the false start, then, supposedly talking to studio's producer in the booth, says "What? Was I too early?...Oh, sorry, should I—do you want to start over, or...? Keep going? Okay.... Now? ...Now?" before starting the song.

The song "Jungle Riot" by Ove-Naxx contains a false start.
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