Wind assistance is a term in track and field, which refers to the wind level during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather which can affect sport.
Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the athlete in events like certain sprint races (100 and 200 metres), 100/110 metres hurdles, the triple jump and the long jump there is a limit to how much assisting wind the athlete must perform under. If a tail wind exceeds 2 metres per second (3.9 kn) the result can not be registered as a record on any level. Note, the results within that competition still are valid because all athletes in a race would get equal assistance, and in field events it is just the luck of the circumstance at the moment of the attempt. This is only in regards to the validation of a record.
The exceptions are the combined events like heptathlon and decathlon. Here, the total score may be accepted even though some of the results had a tail wind of more than 2.0 m/s. The maximum limit is 4.0 m/s for any one event, but 2.0 m/s on average across all applicable disciplines.
Famous quotes containing the words wind and/or assistance:
“Our courage breaks like an old tree in a black wind and dies,
But we have hidden in our hearts the flame out of the eyes
Of Cathleen, the daughter of Houlihan.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Each [side in this war] looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)