I'm assuming the hand in the pocket is a regulated stance or at least is a pretty common pose to take. Makes me wonder what the most absurd item someone had in there pocket during an olympic event is.
Take your hand and hold it out and watch how much it shakes/moves.
Notice how much effort it takes you to stop the ever so slight shaking and movement of your hand. Now your arm. Now your shoulder. Now notice how much of the rest of your body you had to ignore to just control that.
Now place it against your leg and watch it stop.
This is the stance in its entirety, it’s pure function.
Sweet, ty for the info. I would imagine some people might have a picture of a loved one or maybe a note of importance (a regular object would seem distracting from the purpose you described). But, that might be taboo since anything that takes your mind off focusing on the target could hamper performance.
I imagine a competitor would have something in their pocket on occasion. That sprinter recently had a blue eyes white dragon card in his pocket, when he set a record a few back.