Australian start referee Geoffrey Martin remembers his experience starting all the 100 metre sprint races at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“It was awesome. I started all the 100 metre sprints right through to the finals.”
And what does he remember the most about the 100 metre finals?
“What I remember is that you had about 100,000 people in the stadium, it was on TV, the whole world was watching.
“But it was so quiet before the race that you could hear a pin drop.”
Rarotonga is a long way from his home city of Sydney but Martin, a former sprinter, says the qualities needed by starters are no different right around the world.
Martin, one of six international starters accredited by the International Association of Athletics Associations, is at the Pacific Mini Games competition to oversee the start areas to ensure that procedures are carried out in accordance with the rules.
Martin has been officiating since the early 1970s and he says it is pleasing to see the start officials improve over the duration of the athletics programme.
“It’s been a highlight for me to coordinate the starters and just getting them together to tell them what is happening in the big world of starting.”
So what makes a good starter?
“Good reaction time -- being able to react to something very quickly. It’s no good thinking that there was something wrong with the start when they are halfway down the track.”
To help hone his reaction skills, Martin says he enjoys playing on pinball machines.
He was in Italy a couple of months ago starting races at the World Youth Championships, and also started at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 and in Melbourne in 2006.
“I get a lot of satisfaction from starting races. You know in your own mind when you get a good start away.” - Moana Moeka’a: Cook Islands News