During the Olympic Women's running events, the athletes always slow down before the finish. Why?

Question

During the Olympic Women's running events, the athletes always slow down before the finish. Why?

Answer 1

To escape being dope tested. The first three and two at random are tested.

Answer 2

You know, I was just thinking this too!  I'm sure it's because they don't need the speed anymore, so why waste the energy...  but, at first I was thinking that maybe there is a psychological effect of the "hitting the tape" that causes a runner to slow down a bit to hit it.  But, then, my husband says, they hit that tape all the time so they should be used to it by now...

Answer 3

They only want to break the world record by a little bit because every time the break it they get a bonus.

Answer 4

I was going to say that it was probably an unconscious reaction to reaching the finish line - that mentally you have to train yourself to run "through" the line rather than slow down before stopping.

But I think the response about qualifying heats makes more sense.

Answer 5

Tired

Answer 6

It happens in the men's too.  These are only in the qualifying heats.  They do it because they see they have already qualified so no need to exhaust more energy.  They save that for the final run, the one that decides the medal.