IAAF World Relays coming

The Good News:
The IAAF recently announced the World Relays. If these events are even half as exciting as the relay events at the London Olympics they are going to be a whole lot of fun!
The Bad News:
We have to wait until 2014 for the first event!

Why was the Canadian 4x100m team disqualified in the Olympic final?

Various news articles reported on the disqualification of the Canadian 4x100m team during the Olympic final.
Very few presented all the facts, thus creating an impression that they were treated unfairly.
The facts and rules are as follows:

• The athlete stepped on the inside line of their assigned lane.
• The rules state that an athlete stepping on the line on the inside of the lane will be disqualified

In the past the number of steps on or inside the line was considered. Why is the new rule so harsh?
The distance is measured 30cm from the inside of the lane for lane 1 and 20cm from the inside for lane 2 and outwards.
The 'real' line is actually 20cm to the outside of the painted line for lanes 2-9 and 30cm from the curb for lane 1.
This means and athlete stepping right next to the line is actually running slightly shorter than the total distance and already gaining an advantage.
There has to be a line somewhere and it is clearly visible and the athlete should not step on that line.

Jamaica breaks 4x100m World Record.

In a remarkable race Jamaica breaks their own world record of 37.04 set in Daegu on the 4th of September 2011.
The time of 36.84 seems like such a huge step forward that it may not be beaten for some time.
With a better exchange between Blake and Bolt they can gain about 0.05 and with Powell running in place of Cater or Frater they may gain another 0.1.
This means that a perfect race by the 4 fastest Jamaicans could be as fast as 36.69