[Mike Voth]

A possible scenario (different occurance) for this to occur was posted on facebook:

So here's the deal as I was standing about 2ft from the computer operator in the tower when this happened.

Yes, the computer alerts the operator with a beeping noise when things aren't "right"

The computer also uses that same beeping noise to alert the operator to set the next pair at the starting line.

The pair before Jim's run had some sort of a hangup or delay so Jim and his opponent were behind the starting line. The computer was beeping, telling the operator to set the next pair. It was likely ALSO beeping because of the 12 second dial in.

She set the pair and the beeping stopped.

I was not on the mic at the time but in the room. Ultimately I'm disappointed in myself that my brain did not trigger in time to stop it from happening.

So the answer is yes there are guards in place and yes there's human error at play here and yes, it should have been caught and stopped.