> a thousandth-of-a-second constitutes 2.39 millimeters of travel. FINA pool dimension regulations allow a tolerance of 3 centimeters in each lane, more than ten times that amount. [emphasis added]
So by the same argument, they should not measure hundredths either...
Eh, anything less than 0.0125s is 3cm and a tie. Pretty darn close to 0.01s and all you need to do is make sure the pool is accurate to within 2.3cm instead...
Much more interesting to think about the delta between the clock that's accurate to hundredths.
Someone could win with a time of 23.01s vs second places 23.00s... But is the delta really 0.01s, or was second place 23.00999999 with a delta of 0.00000001s?
So by the same argument, they should not measure hundredths either...