at the races

There I was, watching the Olympic trials on Sunday night, having meat leftovers before it was too late. How sad is my life? Anyway... one of the commentators noticed that one of the competitors in the women's hurdles event was in the starting blocks, resting on her knuckles, instead of her fingers like all the other runners. A bit odd, but I didn't think anything of it.

Until, of course, they interviewed her after the race (she came in third), and I noticed that she would have had to rest on her knuckles — her fingernails were literally 2 inches long (at least). Now, other than being just plain icky, doesn't that increase wind resistance? I mean, figure that could have sliced off a full .1 seconds off her race time — in Olympic terms, that could have moved her up from third to second... or even first in a very tight race!