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:
“The older you get the stronger the wind gets—and it’s always in your face.”
—Jack Nicklaus (b. 1940)
“At a certain age, we have already been struck by love; it no longer develops alone, according to its own mysteries and fateful laws while our hearts stand by startled and passive. We come to its assistance ... Recognizing one of its symptoms, we recall, we bring back to life the others. Since we possess its song engraved in its totality within us, we do not need for a woman to tell us the beginning—filled with admiration inspired by beauty—to find the continuation.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)