Transcription:
By Jesse Squire @tracksuperfan · 1h
If I did my math right, those starting block speakers made a difference last night.
Without them, Lyles would have been at a disadvantage of 0.008 sec — how long the sound of the pistol takes to travel from lane 4 (Thompson) to lane 7 (Lylesh).
He won by 0.005.
[A picture showing starting blocks on the track with runners’ feet in them. Behind each starter block is a purple loudspeaker connected to wires leading out of frame.]
With such small differences in speed anything could have influenced the outcome. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon could have influenced the wind patterns in such a way that advantages one over the other. The fairest thing to say would be that they both did a great job, but I guess that doesn’t fly at the olympics.