Faulty timers not tested, says company

The company in charge of the electronic timing system at the world swimming championships has admitted the touchpads that have caused so much trouble were not tested before the start of the competition.

Japanese manufacturer Seiko, asked to explain why there had been so many problems with the timing mechanism, apologised on Saturday for the confusion surrounding official times in more than a dozen races during the championships.

"We didn't test these specific touchpads, but we tested pads with the same specifications in another pool earlier this month," said Akihito Suehiro, general manager of Seiko's sports timing department. "We're sorry to have upset the athletes."

Suehiro confirmed there had been 16 official adjustments to race times since the start of competition last Sunday, following two more hiccups in Saturday morning's heats.

His comments followed grave concern expressed by top international coaches about the timing system's failures, as well as their criticism of the way the sport's governing body FINA had handled the problems.

FINA, who initially denied there had been problems, finally conceded on Friday that the timing system had malfunctioned after two more embarrassing mix-ups occurred on Friday, one in the men's 100 metres freestyle final and the other involving the Australian 4x200 freestyle relay team.

In the 100 freestyle, American Anthony Ervin won but the electronic scoreboard registered no time for him and initially showed Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband as winner.

TOO SOFT

"The sensors on the touchpads are set at 1.5 kilograms of pressure. Sometimes the swimmer's touch is too soft to register, if they brush the pad diagonally, for example," Suehiro said, adding that Ervin's time had been calculated from the back-up video.

However, a number of coaches and team officials said that the explanation by FINA and Seiko "defies common sense," particularly in a sprint race.

American swimming's national director Dennis Pursley said: "In the 100 metres, the swimmers are going so fast there's no way they don't get enough pressure."

In the relay, Germany, backed by Britain and the Americans, protested to FINA after learning that a race referee had altered one of the change-over times in the heats.

A timing malfunction had indicated that one of the Australian swimmers had jumped the gun and dived in before his team mate had arrived.

The referee amended the time to show there had been no infringement after reviewing the back-up tape. The protesting teams were not given access to the tape but Germany withdrew their protest after they were shown television footage proving there had been no infringement.

FINA spokesman Sam Ramsamy, who drew gasps from reporters when he brushed off the 16 corrected times as "isolated incidents," has said that FINA has no plans to review its decision.

NO QUALMS

"We went by FINA references," he said. "We had no qualms at all engaging them based on Seiko's experience at the Pan Pacific championships, East Asia Games and Olympics."

Pursley has threatened to take a case involving the disqualification of the U.S. women's 4x200 freestyle relay to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) if FINA refuses to review it. Ramsamy said on Friday FINA had no such plans.

The U.S. quartet were disqualified after second swimmer Cristina Teuscher left her block too early, despite protests that the touch-pad had been faulty.

The Americans were initially reinstated after protesting but FINA's jury of appeal upheld the original disqualification, saying they had found that the timing system had worked perfectly during the race.

The U.S. delegation argued that, despite FINA's claim that the timing system had "worked perfectly," the touchpad in lane six, the U.S. lane in the race, had been replaced.

There was dismay on Saturday when Suehiro said that, after a swimmer touches the wall with his hand, it can take "up to a second" before the clock stops to register the official time.

"On the back-up videos, we have seen cases where there has been a gap of about one second." he said. "If the touch didn't apply sufficient pressure, then it can take a forearm or a shoulder to stop the clock."

The ninth world championships end on Sunday.