Media Boat Blocks Triathlon Racers, Forcing An Unusual Restart In Tokyo at 1:50 pm NPR The racers stood ready, primed to dive into Tokyo Bay to start the men's Olympic triathlon. A camera aboard a media boat captured the moment as the start time neared â and unfortunately, it kept capturing the moment after the official start signal blared. Roughly half of the 51 competitors sprang into the water, but the rest were blocked from diving in by the position of the boat, forcing an unusual false start. It's the first time the triathlon, an endurance race that lasts nearly two hours, has ever had a false start in the Olympics, according to NBC. "Invalid start," the official race report reads.