As millions of viewers were glued to their TV screens, the eight competitors from Greece, US, Germany, Cuba, Spain, Cayman Islands and Lebanon were focused on the finish line. Each lost in their own world full of tension.
There was no turning back now. Stretching their legs and pacing up and down the cold stadium, the call to get on their marks interrupted their ritual.
Every man went down on one knee, face down and feeling the pressure on the fingers pressing the synthetic track surface, they were smelling the finish line.
A few seconds ticked away and the starting pistol fired but there was a problem.
The race was stopped.
Someone had removed their feet from the blocks and hands from the track too early.
It was a false start.
No one knew who did it because the movement wasn’t too obvious to the naked eye. But Belocian knew he was the one. Even with a replay, no one could tell what had happened until a slow-motion replay made it clear. It was a tragedy.
The 21-year-old had jumped a fraction of a second too early and the mistake disqualified him instantly. The devastated young man flew 11 hours and 30 minutes to his dream stage and now he was going back home without taking a single stride.
The twitches and flinches that would doom any sprinter hit Belocian so hard that he fell to his knees and pounded the track, crushed that his mistake cost him a shot at Olympic glory and he had to wait for another four years to try again.
The track and field severe rule that disqualifies an athlete for a single false start is so cruel that even elite athletes like Usain Bolt have fallen victim.
