Reason for breakdown at the start

Police had to stop intruder before 100m hit!

-(Bild: AFP)

For days, people in Paris have been puzzling over the reason for the approximately five-minute delay to the men's 100m final. Spectators in the stadium and at home watching on TV were outraged that after the (fascinating) light show, the fastest men in the world had to wait so long before the royal sprint. Now "light" has been shed on the matter ...

The reason for the delay was that five minutes before the start, a man had tried to force his way into the stadium through the marathon gate and enter the running track. The police were able to prevent him from doing so - but this is said to have caused a stir among the security experts. And thus for the unusual delay. This reason was also reported in newspapers in France and appears to be conclusive.

"Free Palestine" and "Free Ukraine"
According to "L'Équipe", it was an Australian wearing a T-shirt with the words "Free Palestine" and "Free Ukraine". This was also indirectly confirmed by the AFP news agency. According to police information, the troublemaker was taken into custody at the St. Denis police station.

Previously, there had been speculation that the long light show in the stadium could have consumed so much electricity that a test for timekeeping would not have worked. This sounds rather unlikely. But who knows? After all, timekeeping was more than important in the thousandths of a second thriller for the medals ...