Olympic Games that are not games

Just spotted what for me is the biggest joke event of the whole thing - "race walking"!!??

Thanks to technology like Sky+ boxes with High Definition picture that can be paused and played in slow motion, can see that almost every stride they take involves them being momentarily off the ground... therefore they're not walking, they're running. Which pretty much renders the entire event pointless.
 
the modern pentathlon.....watched some of it this eve and have to say it struck me as 1 of the most made up events of all.
a bit of shooting with laser guns!, some pony showjumping with horses you've just met, fencing of the sword variety (not of the sledge hammer and paling post!), a short swim and a short run made up of cross-country and around the showjumping arena

bizarre
 
mandelbrot said:
Just spotted what for me is the biggest joke event of the whole thing - "race walking"!!??

Thanks to technology like Sky+ boxes with High Definition picture that can be paused and played in slow motion, can see that almost every stride they take involves them being momentarily off the ground... therefore they're not walking, they're running. Which pretty much renders the entire event pointless.
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There are judges around the course to inspect whether or not you lose contact with the ground (as the Irish competitor found out to his cost). Wouldn't be my favourite sport but I definitely wouldn't consider it a joke.
 
gianni said:
There are judges around the course to inspect whether or not you lose contact with the ground (as the Irish competitor found out to his cost). Wouldn't be my favourite sport but I definitely wouldn't consider it a joke.
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I think you've missed my point there Gianni: it's irrelevant what the on-course judges spot, or more importantly, fail to spot. You me and the dogs on the street with a remote control to hand can clearly see that some/all of the competitors are not in fact walking. Therefore the event is a nonsense.

For example I slowed down the last 5 mins of the womens 20k race this evening, and both of the Russian ladies (the top 2) could clearly be seen to be off the ground on pretty much every stride - they were running. How do you deal with that?
 
Darts? Snooker? Horse Racing?

The soccer definitely doesn't do it for me. By negotiation with FIFA the criteria are designed to ensure that it is inferior to the WC.

Tennis, at least there are no restrictions on entry, but somehow I think Murray would swap his Gold medal for a Wimledon crown any day, and not just for the monetary gain. Golf will be the same.

Notice how China led for most of the two weeks but the USA stormed ahead when we got to the "proper" games.

Besides Katie, I think Mo Farrah is the man of the games. Usain Bolt? First of all I much prefer the long distances and they are much more demanding but I also have this niggling feeling that Carl Lewis is right, how can a nation of 2.7M people be so dominant in the sprints. Unfortunately we know that the sprints are particularly amenable to the use of drugs. Michael Phelps? There are too many swimming medals anyway but I suppose he must be up there for man of the games.

Agree that the modern pentathlon is a stupid piece of fluff.
 
or to put it another way, do we really need an olypmpic games at all! what purpose dose it serve?
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Let me explain.

Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle and Medley

Why not have on the track, Running Backwards, Running with Arms Folded, Egg and Spoon, Sack Race and of course Medley.:(
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Try being able to swim all those different strokes with the completely different technique. Then try and win Olympic medals against people who specialise in just one event. What Phelps has achieved in the last 4 Olympics has been nothing short of astounding. Not saying he is the best Olympian ever or that his achievements are greater than anyone else but he shouldn't have them dismissed either simply because he can compete in so many different events. No different to Bolt competing in the 100, 200, relay and next olympics possibly the 400m.
 
Also Carl Lewis is a fine one to be throwing out accusations of drug use considering what we now know of him.
 
gianni said:
There are judges around the course to inspect whether or not you lose contact with the ground (as the Irish competitor found out to his cost). Wouldn't be my favourite sport but I definitely wouldn't consider it a joke.
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mandelbrot said:
I think you've missed my point there Gianni: it's irrelevant what the on-course judges spot, or more importantly, fail to spot. You me and the dogs on the street with a remote control to hand can clearly see that some/all of the competitors are not in fact walking. Therefore the event is a nonsense.

For example I slowed down the last 5 mins of the womens 20k race this evening, and both of the Russian ladies (the top 2) could clearly be seen to be off the ground on pretty much every stride - they were running. How do you deal with that?
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Yes, Gianni missed the point completely. He fails to understand that AAM posters will obviously know more about most issues than the full-time professionals who have devoted their entire lives to these issues. Why would the judges, or the competing walkers, or their coaches, or their families know more about this issue than a 'hurler on the ditch' AAM poster?
 
Complainer said:
Yes, Gianni missed the point completely. He fails to understand that AAM posters will obviously know more about most issues than the full-time professionals who have devoted their entire lives to these issues. Why would the judges, or the competing walkers, or their coaches, or their families know more about this issue than a 'hurler on the ditch' AAM poster?
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So judges, and by extension umpires and referees and all other sporting officials, don't make errors then?

Video evidence has highlighted numerous error and mistakes made by officials in several sports so why would walking be any different?
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Let me explain.

Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle and Medley

Why not have on the track, Running Backwards, Running with Arms Folded, Egg and Spoon, Sack Race and of course Medley.:(
Click to expand...

Would running 110m hurdles be considered the same as running 100m flat ? Surely they are different 'types' of running ?
 
DB74 said:
So judges, and by extension umpires and referees and all other sporting officials, don't make errors then?

Video evidence has highlighted numerous error and mistakes made by officials in several sports so why would walking be any different?
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It's not an error. The rules clearly state it has to be obvious to the naked eye that the two feet are leaving the ground. Not on slow motion on sky plus.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
but I also have this niggling feeling that Carl Lewis is right, how can a nation of 2.7M people be so dominant in the sprints.
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Genetics? Evolution? Specialisation in a country where sprinting is THE sport? (And agree with Sunny re Carl Lewis - really, he feels fit to cast aspersions?)

Genetics must play a big part in the success of the Jamaicans - I don't believe that any amount of drugs would turn even the most talented Irish sprinter into a Usain Bolt. Slavery can also be 'thanked' for a speeded-up evolution: huge numbers of West Africans were taken as slaves and only the super-strong, genetically gifted survived the horrors they endured - and it is their descendents in the Caribbean and the US that are dominating sprinting today. Another reason is the dominance of sprinting as THE sport in Jamaica - that's what their kids aspire to be - not footballers or rugby players. So they identify their stars early and train them extremely well in an environment with plenty of local competition.

The Irish Times had an interesting article on this yesterday http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/0811/1224321968042.html
 
Sunny said:
It's not an error. The rules clearly state it has to be obvious to the naked eye that the two feet are leaving the ground. Not on slow motion on sky plus.
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And why do the rules state that? Because when they were formulated there was no technology available apart from the naked eye to tell who's walking and who's running.

Such technology exists now (and I don't just mean cameras - surely they could use some kind of sensors for the footwear?). It seems to me that not making an attempt to utilise it, when we can all plainly see that they aren't really walking at all, of it makes a complete mockery of their sport.
 
Why don't you learn the technique and then do it for 50k without getting disqualified before calling it a joke. Robert Heffernans performance was outstanding and doesn't deserve mocking from people sitting behind a keyboard.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Let me explain.

Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle and Medley

Why not have on the track, Running Backwards, Running with Arms Folded, Egg and Spoon, Sack Race and of course Medley.:(
Click to expand...

So running the 100 meters is the same as running the 5000 meters?
Different styles and skills.
 
Complainer said:
Perhaps because they feel that important decisions about the sport should be made by people who know and understand the sport, rather than armchair experts armed with their Sky remote?
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So not because there was no technology available at the time they set up the sport then?
 
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