Summer RIO 2016 - Athletics (Track & Road events) 12th to 20th Aug

[RussellEbertHandball]

I have decided to split the Athletics into 2 threads, one for track + marathon events + the 3 road walks. This covers 29 of the 47 athletics events. I will set these up and add to the opening post - having tried to do two at once and both crashing.

Unfortunately there are no real Aussie prospects for medals and even top 8 placings in the track events, or the marathons but the walks with Jarred Tallent and others there are top 8 prospects, as well as Tallent for Gold in the 50km walk. If the 4x400m girls can make the final - there are 16 nations who qualified that will be an excellent result.

The athletics start Friday 12th August morning Rio time about 10.30pm EST with qualifying in the field events but at 11.10am local time or 00.10 EST the 10,000m for women is the first final.

The athletics program - all events including heats set out as a 1 page pdf
http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitioninfo/365d3b61-a8e6-4553-9dc8-00c317e3636c.pdf

This is the Aussie team selected for the track and road events. There are 30 men and 31 women in total team of 61 and I will put the field event team in that thread.
http://athletics.com.au/News/rio-2016-olympic-team
ATHLETICS SECTION - RIO 2016 AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TEAM
MEN (30):
100m: Josh Clarke (NSW)
200m: Alex Hartmann (Qld)
800m: Peter Bol (Vic), Luke Mathews (Vic), Jeff Riseley (Vic)
1500m: Ryan Gregson (Vic), Luke Mathews (Vic)
5000m: Sam McEntee (Vic), Brett Robinson (Vic), Patrick Tiernan (Qld)
10,000m: David McNeill (Vic), Ben St Lawrence (NSW)
Marathon: Liam Adams (Vic), Michael Shelley (Qld), Scott Westcott (NSW)
20km Walk: Dane Bird-Smith (Qld), Rhydian Cowley (Vic), Jared Tallent (Vic)
50km Walk: Chris Erickson (Vic), Brendon Reading (ACT), Jared Tallent (Vic)


WOMEN (31):
100m: Melissa Breen (ACT)
200m: Ella Nelson (NSW)
400m: Morgan Mitchell (Vic), Anneliese Rubie (NSW)
800m: Selma Kajan (Vic)
1500m: Jenny Blundell (NSW), Zoe Buckman (Vic) Linden Hall (Vic)
5000m: Madeline Hills (NSW), Genevieve LaCaze (Vic), Eloise Wellings (NSW)
10,000m: Eloise Wellings (NSW)
100mHurdles: Michelle Jenneke (NSW)
400m Hurdles: Lauren Wells (ACT)
3000m Steeplechase: Madeline Hills (NSW), Genevieve LaCaze (Qld), Victoria Mitchell (NSW)
Marathon: Milly Clark (NSW), Jess Trengove (SA), Lisa Weightman (Vic)
20km Walk: Tanya Holliday (SA), Regan Lamble (Vic), Rachel Tallent (Vic)
4x400m Relay: Monica Brennan (Vic), Morgan Mitchell (Vic), Anneliese Rubie (NSW), Caitlin Sargent (Qld), Jessica Thornton (NSW), Lauren Wells (ACT)

The official Athletics Australia site which will give you updates on Aussie is at the following but they usually make the front page Olympic specific when the Olympics start.
http://athletics.com.au/
These 2 pages I use a lot for historical results at Olympics, World Champs, Comm Games, Nationals and the Rankings link gives all time rankings and annual rankings for Oz athletes
http://athletics.com.au/Results/Historical-Results
http://athletics.com.au/Results/Rankings

The Athletics Australia twitter account is at
https://twitter.com/AthsAust

The IAAF official site is
http://www.iaaf.org/home

The top list for yearly and historical performances by year is at the following and manipulating the query by male or female, indoor or outdoor, event, and by year going back to 1999 or by all time
http://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/sprints/100-metres/outdoor/men/senior/2016


Their Olympics site is at the following link. This gives you Rio time schedule and converts each time to your local time using your computers clock and you also have links to past Games on the front page, in the history section and under the medals table. There is lots of info you can download and 3/4 way down the page there are download links under the Information - Quick Links - Entry Standards
http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/olympic-games

Every Olympics and World Champs an updated Olympic of World Champs Official statistics handbook is produced giving you just about every stat, winner, finalist, by event, by country, best result per event by country, world records, championship records, age records since the first Olympics or world champs etc etc. You get 400 pages worth of data.

http://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitioninfo/f0e8eb10-cb01-490a-ad69-e9b16a355816.pdf

For the 2015 world champs for those who want to look at what world championship medals result were etc see either the ebook version or pdf at
http://iaaf-ebooks.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/Beijing-2015-Statistics-Handbook/index.htm
or
http://iaaf-ebooks.s3.amazonaws.com...jet/IAAF-World-Championships-Beijing-2015.pdf

The official Rio site for athletics is poor in my opinion but might fire up on the games start
https://www.rio2016.com/en/athletics

This is a great stats site. It has the top 500 to 10,000 legal and illegal (ie excessive wind reading) for each male and female event - both traditional and non traditional in athletics over history. Is as comprehensive as you will find for any sport in the world. And its never more than a couple of days out of date.

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/

These wiki sites are always good value for past winners and you then click on inks to show past finals for an event or that past event in total from first round heats to final.
Olympics stuff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_Summer_Olympics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(men)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(women)

World Championship stuff
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAAF_World_Championships_in_Athletics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_World_Championships_in_Athletics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Championships_in_Athletics_medalists_(men)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Championships_in_Athletics_medalists_(women)


This is the bible of the sport Track and Field News. On their front page - left hand side every day they link to media articles, mainly newspapers, from around the English speaking world
https://www.trackandfieldnews.com/

This is the link to Track and Field News' forums and a link to the forum that will be discussing the Olympics and they had dedicated people who do a thread per event. These are serious athletics fanss and you get people who were or competed against national high school, national college, national, world and Olympic champions. The great Aussie sprinter Peter Norman who finished 2nd in Mexico City in 1968 200m and was the white guy on the dais with the the 2 black american sprinters doing the black power salute used to occasionally post on there until he passed away and his username in a typical Norman self deprecating way was 2ndsOK.

https://www.trackandfieldnews.com/
http://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/forumdisplay.php?18-Current-Events

This is TFN's medal prediction for the track and road events. Edit This was done on 23rd June before the US track and field Olympic selection trials (1st-10th July), so when TFN update their predictions just before the Games I will put them in here.







TFN also have in a simpler form than the IAAF top list page all the men's top 20 results for 2016 by each event on 1 page and on another page for the women.

http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-lists?list_id=4&sex_id=M&yyear=2016

http://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-lists?list_id=4&sex_id=W&yyear=2016


I will add more later
US Trial results
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_Olympic_Trials_(track_and_field)
http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2016/U-S--Olympic-Team-Trials---Track---Field/Results.aspx
US Track and Field home page http://www.usatf.org/Home.aspx






I found this great site last night before my thread crashed. Some German bloke and mates since mid last year has been tracking times, distances etc of all athletes around the world and he has sorted things by event but also by athletes selected for Rio, and by country selected, and top 10 by country and other stuff. Its a ripper. From his spiel.

This page tries to provide a list of qualified athletes following the IAAF Qualification System for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) 12-21 August 2016

http://road-to-rio.com/

 

[Gerry4]

Harrison didn't qualify for the hurdles nor Felix for the 200m.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Harrison didn't qualify for the hurdles nor Felix for the 200m.

I reckon TFN will make an updated prediction list on the weekend or early next week. That one was 23rd June.

I just remembered Harrison broke the WR from about 1990 - tall Bulgaria runner IIRC of 12.21 and ran 12.20 about a week after the US trials where she ran 5th I think the article I read the other day said.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Ok here is an article about Harrison breaking the 28 year old world 100m hurdles record in London last Saturday night, less than 2 weeks after running 6th at the USA trials

ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-3704042/Kendra-Harrison-breaks-100m-hurdles-world-record-London-Anniversary-Games-not-2016-Rio-Olympics.html
Kendra Harrison got over the disappointment of missing out on the USA team for the 2016 Rio Olympics by breaking Yordanka Donkova's 28-year-old 100m hurdles world record. The 23-year-old American dipped under the Bulgarian's time of 12.21, set at Stara Zagora in 1988, clocking 12.20 seconds at the London Anniversary Games.

'That 12.40 (in the heats earlier on Friday) got my confidence back. I knew I had it in me, I ran as hard as I could today,' Harrison, who set a United States record of 12.24 in May, added: 'To hear people call
.......
At the US trials Brianna Rollins won the 100m hurdles final in 12.34 seconds, the second-fastest time in 2016, as American record holder Harrison could only finish sixth to miss out on selection. Kristi Castlin and Nia Ali will join Rollins in Rio.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-3704042/Kendra-Harrison-breaks-100m-hurdles-world-record-London-Anniversary-Games-not-2016-Rio-Olympics.html

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

This fascinating story gives the opportunity to post this gratuitous picture of these 3 very attractive Estonian identical triplets who will all be running the marathon. All 3 have run in the low 2hrs 40 minutes or high 2 30's and the qualifying standard is 2hrs 45. Just remember the 3 L's or the 3 double L's form Estonia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/triplet-threat-estonian-sisters-marathon-rio-olympics
Leila, Liina and Lily Luik from Estonia will make Olympic history when they cross the start line for the women’s marathon in Rio. Twins competing in the same event is not uncommon at the Olympic level. But the Luiks are believed to be the first identical triplets to compete against each other. The 30-year-old sisters, from the southern university town of Tartu, only took up serious distance running when they were 24.

“We have been active since childhood, we love dancing, we love to be active and this pushed us to professional sports,” Lily said. Liina, who got the sisters to start running, said long distances appealed to them more than the technical nature of sprinting. After a couple of years, they realised they were good enough to compete internationally and decided to try for the Games, under the slogan “Trio to Rio”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/triplet-threat-estonian-sisters-marathon-rio-olympics

This second picture from The Sun in London https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/o...country-at-rio-2016-olympics-in-the-marathon/

 

[iluvparis]

I'll get in early

What time is the Men's 100 final in the Eastern states of Australia?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'll get in early

What time is the Men's 100 final in the Eastern states of Australia?

The women's 100m will be first so the heats on the Friday and semi and final on Saturday (Rio) time and the men's go Saturday for heats and semi and final on Sunday 14th Rio time which mean's the IAAF page shows Rio and My Time ie CST so the conversion is
LOCAL TIME MY TIME...................... SEX EVENT ROUND
semi 21:00 09:30 = 10:00 EST (15 AUG) M 100 Metres Semi-Final
final 22:25 10:55 = 11.25 EST (15 AUG) M 100 Metres Final

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Last night Drummond sent me a PM we chatted athletics and Olympics and asked me which 3 events I was looking to. I wasn't sure if he meant just athletics or all of the games, so I gave these 3 athletic events;

Men's Steeplechase I love Ezekiel Kemboi. He is built like a 12 year old Gymnast but has amazing acceleration, sprints, slows down, dawdles wakes up and usually wins running in lane 8 down the home straight waving to the crowd and then does a dance. Watch out for the video's of him I am going to put up the next few days.

100m/200m to see if Bolt can do it again

800m I love watching the smooth running style of David Rudisha but he isn't in great form so he probably wont win. I'm an old 800m/1500m runner.

So I have been digging around You Tube and some old posts re Ezekiel Kemboi. His record is outstanding and is

OLYMPICS
2004 - Gold, 2008 -7th*, 2012 - Gold
* but in 2008 probably should have finished 4th. He was team running to make sure a Kenyan won and when he went over the last water jump with 120m to go he was 4th and his team mates were first and second and looked home. He ended up slowing down and got passed by 3 others in the last 50m. Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad ended up splitting the Kenyan's in the last 50m and similar story in 2012 for 2 silvers in 2 games.

World Championships
2003 - Silver, 2005 - Silver, 2007 - Silver
2009 - Gold, 2011 - Gold, 2013 - Gold, 2015 - Gold

Ezekiel in Rio will try and do what Bolt is trying and become the first man to win an individual track event Gold 3 times. Field event athletes have done it but not track athletes. Bolt runs the 100m before Ezekiel runs the Steeplechase but the 200m is after that, so either could officially be the first to do a triple. I'm pretty sure no woman has done the track individual event treble, but will double check later.

Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984-96) and Al Oerter (1956-68) in the discuss have won 4 in a row. Soviet triple jumper Viktor Saneyev won 3 consecutive golds and then silver (1968/72/76+1980) as did Jan Zelezny in the Javelin for Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic (1988/92/96+2000).

I remember watching the 2004 Steeplechase and the Kenyan's clean swept the race like they did in 1992, (despite their 3 runners finishing 1st and 2nd and 4th in 1996 and 2000), and the 3 of them running and celebrating as a team but I didn't really take note of Ezekiel, as an individual but more because of the way they team ran. The only other sweep in the Steeplechase at the Olympics was 1928 by the Fins but Paavo Nurmi only got silver that time. They have done it many times at World Championships.

First time I really took note of him as a individual and put him into the meory banks was when he won in 2011 world champs in Daegu Korea and he did his little dance, and then have been watching his antics ever since. I wrote this in the 2012 athletics thread about his heat run;

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/london-2012-track-athletics.960800/page-2#post-25092655
That 3rd heat run by Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi was the most bizzare middle distance run I have ever seen. He bludged 15m behind the second last runner for 3 laps then slowly worked his way up thru the field, sprinted to the last water jump got to the lead, was in front at the last steeple then slowly jogged across to lane 7 and finished 2nd. He just toyed with the field. Finished 7th in Beijing and has won the last 2 world championships. Who knows what he will do in the final but he is the favourite.

and these 2 consecutive posts in the 2015 IAAF World Champs thread in the general sports board
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/15th-iaaf-athletics-world-championships-22–30-august-2015.1108037/page-3#post-40442943
Beauty Steeplechase on - a Kenyan domination and Ezekiel Kemboi you can almost put money on doing something wacky either on a jump or sprinting to victory in lane 9!!. The yank Jager is the only chance to stop a Kenyan domination.

Haha Kenya 1, 2, 3, and 4. Kemboi didnt do anything crazy except he accelerated really hard to go from 4th to 1st with a 5m lead in just 40-50m just after the first steeple in the back straight, Only crossed the finishing line in lane 3 not lane 9.

Ok now for some You Tubes

2011 World Champs in Daegu - wins in Lane 7




an interview back home about the dancing



2012 London Olympics - wins in lane 8. Watch from about 10.30 as they get the bell and then at the top of the bend in the back straight he just takes off and they cant catch him. Only a little dance this time. But watch from 12.40 when he swaps shirts with the Frenchman Mekhissi-Benabbad and as he is about a foot and 30kgs heavier than Ezekiel they embrace by Ezekiel jumping on him and hugging him hard.




2004 Athens Olympics - wins in lane 2 and no dance just joy - watch him signally to his team mates to push themselves so they can clean sweep the event. Kemboi was only 22 and won and that might be why he forfeited his chance to win in 2008 as a bit of payback as his team mates in Beijing were a couple years younger than him.

Watch from 11.20 as they get the bell but at 11.50 as they approach the last of the back straight steeples, he sprints to the front and after the jump signals to his older team mates to accelerate so they can sweep the event. The commentators are perplexed by his actions. And he keeps jestering a couple of times as he hits the home straight. Listen to the commentators after the race is won go on about their team running and can't believe Kemboi backed off in the home straight to encourage his countrymen rather than absolutely sprint to the line. "that was a team race like I've never seen one before" one says.



I think only 5 videos come up but here are 2 more of his world champ wins and watch him in the last lap of both events.

2013 World Champs with the mohawk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si9_M-BDqv0

2015 World Champs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzM1OrTLACM

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The Kenyan domination of the Steeplechase, first started in 1968, remember they boycotted 1976 - because of NZ and the All Blacks and 1980 - US led boycott. 1968 The great Kip Keino won the 1,500m by the same tme margin as Herb Elliot and to this day are the biggest win in the event by time margin. Amos Biwott followed Kip a couple of days later and won the Steeplechase. Kip had a crack at the steeplechase 4 years later and won it . [he also won silver in the 5,000 in 1968 and silver in the 1,500 in 1972]. And as i said above they failed to clean sweep in 1996 and 2000 when their 3rd runner finished 4th.






In World Champs for some reason they didn't do well in the 1983 and 1987 championships but have since.

Since 1993 or 1995 defending champions get an automatic invited to all events so sometimes countries have 4 individuals in those events and that's why Kenyans have placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th a couple of times.

Saif Saaeed Shaheen was a Kenyan who was lured to Qatar by big $$$, he became a Muslim and changed his name, so whilst Kenya don't have those 2 golds, a Kenyan born runner has.

The Kenyans regard dominating the Steeplechase pretty much like the All Blacks regard dominating Rugby Union!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Usain Bolt focused on breaking 200m world record at Rio 2016
USAIN Bolt set his sights on breaking his 200m world record at the Rio Olympics after declaring himself fit and ready to race following a visit to his controversial German doctor.

The six-time Olympic champion faces a key test of his fitness when he races for the first time since pulling out of the Jamaican trials with a hamstring strain – and the first time over 200m all season – at the Muller Anniversary Games in London this evening.

“I went to see the doctor to work his magic as always, I’m good,” said Bolt.“My hamstrings are good, I have no issues right now. The doctor did an extremely good job. I know I’m in good shape.” Bolt’s doctor is the renowned Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, the 73-year-old Germany national team doctor known as ‘Healing Hans’. .....
Usain Bolt focused on breaking 200m world record at Rio 2016

 

[pepsi]

Not certain bolt will be fit for rio and his racing preparation has been limited. Gatlin might just get that 100m title which most would hate.

I'm incredibly keen on bolt completing the 100-200 at 3 OG but it is no certainty.

 

[Pinnell]

Yo

Usain Bolt focused on breaking 200m world record at Rio 2016
USAIN Bolt set his sights on breaking his 200m world record at the Rio Olympics after declaring himself fit and ready to race following a visit to his controversial German doctor.

The six-time Olympic champion faces a key test of his fitness when he races for the first time since pulling out of the Jamaican trials with a hamstring strain – and the first time over 200m all season – at the Muller Anniversary Games in London this evening.

“I went to see the doctor to work his magic as always, I’m good,” said Bolt.“My hamstrings are good, I have no issues right now. The doctor did an extremely good job. I know I’m in good shape.” Bolt’s doctor is the renowned Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, the 73-year-old Germany national team doctor known as ‘Healing Hans’. .....
Usain Bolt focused on breaking 200m world record at Rio 2016

You'd have to think bolt in the 200m and Mo Farrer in the 5000m are the good things of the games?

 

[Pedantic]

Wouldn't want to write off Rudisha in the 800. His run in the 2012 final will stay with me forever, incredible stuff.

 

[PoopingHindi]

Wouldn't want to write off Rudisha in the 800. His run in the 2012 final will stay with me forever, incredible stuff.

im pretty sure he recently ran the fastest time this year. he's been beaten by Kipketer a couple of times lately but i'll back the old guy to get it done when it counts.

and yes, that 2012 race was a thing of pure beauty. front running to a WR and dragging most of the field to a PB, it looked like he was gliding not running. probably the most amazing track performance i've seen.

he wont have it all his own way this time round, there are plenty of people capable of medaling. it should be a cracking race and the highlight of the mens events for me along with the Mo v Kamworor 10k smack down...
...i just hope we get to see more than 30 second snippets of the 10k in between long jumps and pole vaults

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

im pretty sure he recently ran the fastest time this year. he's been beaten by Kipketer a couple of times lately but i'll back the old guy to get it done when it counts.

and yes, that 2012 race was a thing of pure beauty. front running to a WR and dragging most of the field to a PB, it looked like he was gliding not running. probably the most amazing track performance i've seen.

he wont have it all his own way this time round, there are plenty of people capable of medaling. it should be a cracking race and the highlight of the mens events for me along with the Mo v Kamworor 10k smack down...
...i just hope we get to see more than 30 second snippets of the 10k in between long jumps and pole vaults

Your post pricked my ears as the TFN 2016 best list that was dated 23rd June had him at about 10th fastest for the year at around 1.45 and he struggled at the Kenyan nationals/trials in early July and only just qualified finishing 3rd, plus he finished 5th and then 4th in the 2 Diamond League meets he ran in Shanghai in May and a month later in Stockholm, so that's why I posted above he isn't in great form.

But I had a look at the IAAF site and you are correct, as on the 18th July at some memorial meet in Hungary he set the fastest time for the year - but he did have a pace maker - so that has helped compared to the other three runs he has had when no pacemakers were there and winning was more important than the time. See

https://www.iaaf.org/news/report/istvan-gyulai-memorial-szekesfehervar-2016-ru

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Bummer no Aussie representation in the 100m. I was hoping Josh Clarke could run a PB and sneak into the semi. He ran 10.15 earlier this year to qualify. You gotta go back to Shirvo and Patrick Johnson in Sydney to the last time Oz had a 100m sprinter compete. Edit Josh Ross ran at Athens.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...ttany-broben-pu/7674858?section=olympics-2016
Australia expects permission to call-up another diver to replace heartbroken Brittany Broben, who has withdrawn from the Rio Olympics because of injury.

But the nation's absence in the blue-riband men's 100m sprint will stretch to at least four Olympiads with Josh Clarke pulling out of the Games because of a hamstring injury. The 21-year-old Clarke has been hailed for a courageous decision to not compete in Rio because he is not in peak condition after injuring a hamstring tendon in February."He has chosen to look to his future rather than focusing on an immediate outcome which is never easy," Australian athletics head coach Craig Hilliard said.

Australia has not had a men's 100m sprinter at an Olympics since 2004 and Australian Olympic team chef de mission Kitty Chiller also praised Clarke's honest decision. "It's a strong and it's a brave decision from a young guy with a big future," Chiller told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. "Very disappointing for Australia that we won't now have a 100 metre (runner)."........
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...ttany-broben-pu/7674858?section=olympics-2016

 

[Milang_Panthers]

Cant wait for the marathons. Scott Westcott is a great story to follow.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Cant wait for the marathons. Scott Westcott is a great story to follow.

Tell us more MP

 

[L Dizz]

I reckon Ryan Gregson in the 1500m is a our best chance to make a track final. He's probably a reasonable shot at the top 8 too, especially when you consider the African countries can only send 3 athletes each. He's got all the Europeans covered this year and has a pretty decent kick, which is handy in slow championship races.

Gen LaCaze is probably a finals chance in the steeplechase too, also running really well this year.

 

[L Dizz]

Tell us more MP

Making his Olympic debut at 40 is a pretty good story and an even better lesson in never giving up.

 

[iluvparis]

Interesting question for the distance races - why aren't pacemakers allowed? Wouldn't it be more likely for the fastest athlete to win if they are allowed in?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Interesting question for the distance races - why aren't pacemakers allowed? Wouldn't it be more likely for the fastest athlete to win if they are allowed in?

Olympics running is about national glory and honour.

Pace making is about money and making a diamond league, grand prix, other athletics series exciting for the crowd. Olympics are about handling the stress of competition and not trying to be a greyhound chasing the fake hare.

 

[iluvparis]

Olympics running is about national glory and honour.

Can't see how having a pacemaker in the race contradicts this point.

Cycling has a sport that is entirely based on having a pacemaker.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Can't see how having a pacemaker in the race contradicts this point.

Cycling has a sport that is entirely based on having a pacemaker.

Think a bit. The Kenyans team run so why would they worry about a pacemaker. The Ethiopians team run as well but not as much. The 800m races to 10,000m races go between 1.45m 3.35m, 13.00m and 29.00m and steeplechase goes for 8.00m. A road race goes for 5 hours and when you draft you save about 20% energy.Completely different conditions.

 

[iluvparis]

So if they are not needed why are they banned?

Surely Hicham El Guerrouj (spelling*) was better with a pacemaker than without so they must have some benefit?

Edit - the cycling event I was talking about was the Kieran which goes for less than 5 minutes