A Modest Proposal . . .

[bobguild76]

Great thread, bad hammy. Thanks for raising it.

[bad hammy]

mrs. hammy points out that the process of having vertical jumpers jump at various lower heights until they get where they want to be could be applied to the 100m. First have all athletes run a 10m race, then a 20m race, then a 30m race etc, until they get to 100m. She's not a T&F fan, so not accounting for the fact that vertical jumpers are not forced to jump at every height etc., but I still like her uninformed logic . . .

[26mi235]

Like the rest of the field events, six attempts max with a cull of the herd after three. No moving standards or placing bars – just let electronic eyes determine the lowest height that 100% of the body clears. And have the electronics create a crossbar of light that can be set at the vaulter's requested height to give them a target.

I do not think that you watch the vertical jumps very closely. A lot of jumpers cross the plane of the standards below the bar at points in the jump. Also, stray things go around that are of no consequence that might disrupt the light beam some. Even if it could be done, not everything that could be done should be; in fact, most should not be.

[lonewolf]

A long time track official friend, retired electrical engineer from Univ Arkansas faculty, told me years ago about an electronic "blanket" that would measure long jump from take off to landing with great accuracy, complicated by the nuisance factor of flying sand that screwed up the measurement.

[18.99s]

Another important feature of the horizontal bar is the immediate tactile feedback it gives to the jumpers. Instantly feeling (or not feeling) the bar in the process of the jump, including feeling which part of the body touched the bar and how hard it hit, is much better for skill-building feedback than finding out those details a minute or two later from an electronic readout.