The Athletics Thread...

[Toon Wolf]

Question for you: Geoff Capes v Brendan Foster in a 100m race- who wins?

:icon_lol:

I've met Mr Capes, about eight years ago. He's a unit. I'd have to go with Mr Foster.

I'm assuming everyone agrees?

 

[Nero Wolf]

1.Carolina Kluft..a stroke of patriotism surely.Still..undefeated in the hepathlon(or whatever its called in english)as a senior,with the junior world record and the titles to match.3 straight WC golds,2 straight european championships and won the OG gold in the only games she ever attended.
Has the second best personal result in the event,after Jackie Joyner Kersee..who of course was on strong substances most part of her career.

2.Haile Gebrselassie..I don´t know just how many medals he has won,or the number of world records he has beaten.I don´t care.Just a fantastic athlete.

3.Carl Lewis..leaves a bad taste since I am fully aware of that he most probably was on illegal drugs through his career.I shouldn´t rate him really..but the longjump in Atlanta 96 made me feel young again.

4.Sergei Bubka..probably the most dominant in a single event.The pole vault jumper of all pole vault jumpers for now and probably forever.

5.Jesse Owens..for stickin it to the nazis on their own home turf.100 meters champion long before the use of illegal substances and a great world record in the long jump beating the germans darling Lutz Long into second place.A small jump for mankind.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

How on earth do athletes do the pole vault. I tried it once, and nearly did myself an injury...

Toon, in my younger days I was an ok runner, and did a few marathons, though I preferred the half marathon. That is why I admire the long distance runners. As for Ronoh, he was a great runner, but what followed afterwards is very sad. Alcohol took over his life. I prefer to remember the great athlete.

 

[Nero Wolf]

He really only had one good year as I remember it.
Took the world record from Swedens Anders Gärderud in the 3000 m steeplechase in 1977..so I have mixed emotions.

 

[Toon Wolf]

1.Carolina Kluft..a stroke of patriotism surely.Still..undefeated in the hepathlon(or whatever its called in english)as a senior,with the junior world record and the titles to match.3 straight WC golds,2 straight european championships and won the OG gold in the only games she ever attended.
Has the second best personal result in the event,after Jackie Joyner Kersee..who of course was on strong substances most part of her career.

2.Haile Gebrselassie..I don´t know just how many medals he has won,or the number of world records he has beaten.I don´t care.Just a fantastic athlete.

3.Carl Lewis..leaves a bad taste since I am fully aware of that he most probably was on illegal drugs through his career.I shouldn´t rate him really..but the longjump in Atlanta 96 made me feel young again.

4.Sergei Bubka..probably the most dominant in a single event.The pole vault jumper of all pole vault jumpers for now and probably forever.

5.Jesse Owens..for stickin it to the nazis on their own home turf.100 meters champion long before the use of illegal substances and a great world record in the long jump beating the germans darling Lutz Long into second place.A small jump for mankind.

Some really good choices there Nero. Kluft is/was an amazing multi-eventer. There won't be many more like her. Great call on Jesse Owens too. As for Carl Lewis, definitely tainted for me. Not just because he used drugs, but because he was so hypocritical about it, bleating on for years about drug cheats like Ben Johnson and portraying himself as cleaner than clean, only to be found out years later to have been cheating pretty much the whole time. Zero respect for him, I'm afraid.

 

[Toon Wolf]

He really only had one good year as I remember it.
Took the world record from Swedens Anders Gärderud in the 3000 m steeplechase in 1977..so I have mixed emotions.

I think that's a little unfair. He had several good years, but one GREAT year, 1978. 4 world records in just over two months. Incredible achievement.

It raises another interesting discussion. It has been said that Usain Bolt could knock another tenth of a second (or more) off the 100m world record. However, the chances of him doing that in one race are very small because each time he breaks the record he gets a huge prize, therefore his aim is to beat the record in small increments in order to maximise his prize money. Bubka was the same in the pole vault years ago. Everyone knew he could smash the record if he chose to, but he increased it in 1cm increments in order to keep getting the prize money! Is that ethical, or should an athlete capable of breaking a world record just aim to beat the record by as much as they can?

 

[Toon Wolf]

Oh and for those of you who expressed an interest when I mentioned it on another thread, one of the athletes I coach who was aiming for the English Schools Championships this year injured his knee playing rugby (don't ask, I'm furious) the weekend before last and is now out for 6-8 weeks. Given the first round of qualification is a little over a month away he now has no chance of qualifying this year.

 

[ROVERT47]

Toon as our resident athletics expert do you expect the 2012 Olympics to be 'clean'?

 

[Nero Wolf]

I don´t know how Toon sees it but for me there ain´t such a thing as a clean championship.
The shortcuts and illegal methods is all over sports in general I think.
The methods to detect the most flagrant cheaters has improved greatly though..so nowadays all it takes is a mistake to get caught.

Still,the money´s too big and the chance of evading capture continues to be great..so the cheating continues.

Just look at the records of Usain Bolt for example.I mean..is anyone with any type of knowledge of track and fields buying those?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I think Bolt is clean, more of a freak of nature.

there is cycling in the olympics. that is the breeding ground for all the innovations to get round drug tests. from a personal point of view I hope WADA and the UCI nail Contador to the wall for his positive test. For Spanish cycling to let him off as he 'ate a steak from the one cow in europe high enough on clenbuterol to register a positive' is a disgrace.

 

[ROVERT47]

Personally i think it is a subject that is worty of debate, i am quite cynical by nature, i believe that as the Athletes are becoming more desperate the Chemists are becoming more clever.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

That is the problem, everytime an athlete produces an exceptional performance, people wonder if he/she had taken anything. Which is most unfair on the "clean" athletes, who are in the vast majority .

 

[Sniffer]

I would like to think that with all the testing taking place that athletics is much cleaner now than it was in the 80's and 90's.

I would like to raise issue with Toon's point about Usain Bolt being able to break the 100m record in stages. I agree with you that he has got it in him to go faster however I would say that it may only be possible for him to do it once more in his career. He would have to be at the peak of his fitness to go quicker and in ideal conditions. Bubka however was in an event was easier to stage manage his ability to be able to keep breaking the record.

 

[Toon Wolf]

I don´t know how Toon sees it but for me there ain´t such a thing as a clean championship.
The shortcuts and illegal methods is all over sports in general I think.
The methods to detect the most flagrant cheaters has improved greatly though..so nowadays all it takes is a mistake to get caught.

Still,the money´s too big and the chance of evading capture continues to be great..so the cheating continues.

Just look at the records of Usain Bolt for example.I mean..is anyone with any type of knowledge of track and fields buying those?

Absolutley I'm buying those. Usain Bolt has been smashing track records since the age of 14 or 15. He's long been known to be what could be described as a 'freak of nature'. He's also probably the most tested athlete on the planet. His records are totally legit, I'm certain of it.

As for a 'clean' Olympics? I think it's highly doubtful. You'll get a number of positive tests of that there is no doubt. It won't be just athletics though- weightlifting, cycling, swimming, boxing etc etc are all just as likley to provide cheats.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

some cyclist is bound to fail an EPO test. Just bound to happen.

 

[Toon Wolf]

I would like to think that with all the testing taking place that athletics is much cleaner now than it was in the 80's and 90's.

I would like to raise issue with Toon's point about Usain Bolt being able to break the 100m record in stages. I agree with you that he has got it in him to go faster however I would say that it may only be possible for him to do it once more in his career. He would have to be at the peak of his fitness to go quicker and in ideal conditions. Bubka however was in an event was easier to stage manage his ability to be able to keep breaking the record.

I agree that it will be difficult, however I think he is more than capable of knocking the record down to sub 9.5s. The difficulty is that it would be almost impossible for him to stage manage it effectively to run 9.57, followed by 9.55 , then 9.53 etc etc. In all likelhiood if he breaks the record he'll smash it in one go. I firmly believe he's capable of putting the 100m world record down to 9.4something. When he ran 9.58 he practically jogged across the line. He's a phenom of extraordinary proportions.

 

[Knockout Ned]

Cycling has a long tradition of doping, it was acceptable practice years ago although not spoken about openly. Hence cyclists being the most tested athletes, can't be many sports where the winner is greeted by a chaperone immediately after crossing the line.

Less likely to happen at a one day race such as the olympics than during a gruelling three week tour, but I'm sure there'll be one or two looking to gain an edge.

Contador will get his, strict liability!

 

[Toon Wolf]

The legendary Grete Waitz, who pretty much redefined women's distance running has died aged only 57.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Just mentioned it on the Elizabeth Sladen thread. Her and Ingrid Kristiansen were the two best in women's distance by a serious amount in their time. Very sad

 

[FrankMunro-371]

More sad news....Greta was arguably the greatest ever women's long distance runner. I think that she was at one time the quickest female marathon runner in the world. She demolished previous marathon times, and set a new standard that present day runners have followed. A fantastic athlete, and a great fighter to the end.