100-meter Track ‘Not Quite 100m’

Aug. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- Chinese Olympic officials have blasted reports that the 100-meter track in the bird’s nest is ‘not quite 100m’ as ‘ridiculous, absurd and an insult to the pride of every Chinese person in history.’

A prominent sports consultant−who has requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic−claims to have been with an IOC group that measured the 100-meter track at 96.55 meters−over 3% short of the standard hundred meters. He claims media access requirements taken into consideration during construction meant the hundred meter track had to ‘give way to wires, cables and other electrical equipment’ needed for television coverage of track and field events. He claims to have been told privately by officials that ‘the Olympics is not only about the athletes… we all have to compromise.’

According to sources close to the games’ organizers in Beijing, the current world record for the 100 meter event is held by Xiao Guan Xi, a member of the Chinese maintenance staff at the bird’s nest. Xiao apparently clocked well under eight seconds in an unofficial dash on Thursday, which raised eyebrows among IOC officials. The track was measured Thursday night and the results shocked officials, the source claims.

‘They measured it over and over again and couldn’t believe their eyes,’ he claims, ‘This Olympics is going to see a time run in the hundred meters that won’t be beaten for fifty years.’ The problem, according to another source−also requesting anonymity−cannot be fixed because it would mean digging up TV cables and electrical wires, ‘and that just wouldn’t be practical at this stage.’