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

[toxic]

The World Record for 400m progression since Mexico City 1968 Olympics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_400_metres_world_record_progression
and
http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_400ok.htm

33     43.86A     Lee Evans                      USA     25.02.47    1      Ciudad de México            18.10.1968
then 20 years later
3      43.29      Harry Reynolds                 USA     08.06.64    1rA    Zürich                      17.08.1988
then 11 years later
2      43.18      Michael Johnson                USA     13.09.67    1      Sevilla                     26.08.1999
then 17 years later
1      43.03      Wayde van Niekerk              RSA     15.07.92    1      Rio de Janeiro              14.08.2016

so on average, over 48 years its been lowered by 0.0173 seconds per year. This is why it should go down as one of the great athletics records. Its just a pity it happened on Bolt day so that it didnt get all the attention for the non athletics track and field sports fan.

Did i hear Niekerk is the only one ever to
Run
sub 10 for the 100
Sub 20 for the 200
Sub 44 for the 400
???

 

[Arbuckle]

I’ll have a crack.

Bruce is arguably not as knowledgeable as he likes to make out. He seems to specialise in useless “colour” facts that have no bearing upon the outcome of a given athletic competition (Serena’s mother’s enjoys painting her fingernails yellow, that kick by Cyril was the 157th on his left foot this year, Jeremy Warriner has a dog named Toby etc.) but his knowledge beyond this in a given sport doesn’t extend too far beyond that of the mug punter. So when it comes to athletics he’s got plenty of facts and figures to give some context to the casual viewer who only ever looks at track and field once every four years, but for those intimately involved with the sport they’re largely irrelevant.

To my knowledge Bruce has not played sport at any professional or amateur level since juniors. It’s also unclear what sports he participated in as a junior – he’s from Adelaide and there’s a photo floating about of him in an under 8s footy jumper so I’m going to speculate that he played Australian Rules football and cricket. So all of his knowledge of a given sport has been learned in theory rather than in practice. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, as there are plenty of professional callers who have never taken part in an athletic competition, as well as plenty of former athletes who make terrible callers. But things that are inherent to a sport, and learned by participant immersion in that sport, aren’t readily apparent to Bruce – he needs to have learnt them by explanation (in many cases from a text). So the analogy of Richie Benaud not knowing the laws of cricket as they relate to a runout doesn’t quite fit.

It’s possible that Bruce skimmed over the relevant IAAF rule about the torso crossing the line and did not retain it, or convinced himself that he knew better. But something that is inherently known by any person who trained in athletics competitions from juniors is not inherently known by Bruce.

Bruce’s first love was horseracing, where a horse is deemed to have crossed the finishing line as soon as any part of its body (invariably the nose) reaches the vertical plane of the nearer edge of the line. Perhaps Bruce deluded himself over the course of his professional career that, by extension, a human racing on a track is deemed to have crossed the finishing line as soon as any part of their body (foot, hand etc.) reaches that plane.

That Bruce is the best this country has got is less a reflection of the virtues of Bruce and more a reflection of the way professional commentators are trained and recruited in what is (by comparison to other markets throughout the world) a relatively unsophisticated television sports broadcasting landscape. Bear in mind that Bruce chased the Olympics coverage: he started at Seven when they had Australian rights to Olympics television coverage, then crossed to Ten for 1984 and 1988 (where he made his name), before jumping ship to Seven again when they won the TV rights for 1992 and beyond. So the reason Bruce has the job is that Bruce has always had the job.

One of the best posts I've ever read on BF. (Admittedly, the percentage of serious contenders for that title across all posts is low.)

Thank you.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Yep

Maybe I have my distance wrong but I 've never seen someone win a race or medal with both feet off the surface of the track before their torso crosses the line. The photo and video you put up of Neville in Beijing in 2008, clearly shows he has landed on his right foot about 1/2 metre before the line.

I'm not question the decision, or the rules, just that its the most extreme example I have seen of a victory, or medal placing, after a lean forward or dip, or a dive, or a stumble across the line.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Did i hear Niekerk is the only one ever to
Run
sub 10 for the 100
Sub 20 for the 200
Sub 44 for the 400
???

Yep

 

[SJ]

The Dive for Gold. It was a great 397m run by Shaunae Miller and a very lucky 3m dive. I have never seen a dive like that to win. Like like a combo of exhaustion, stumble, over leaning forward and shear luck.

Felix was going to be the first women to win 5 gold medals in athletics but she wasn't the first past the post in terms of torso but probably was the firt past the post in terms of both legs.

My feeling watching it live was that Felix had her covered but slowed up considerably in the last five metres and wouldn't have won either way in the end.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I’ll have a crack.

Bruce is arguably not as knowledgeable as he likes to make out. He seems to specialise in useless “colour” facts that have no bearing upon the outcome of a given athletic competition (Serena’s mother enjoys painting her fingernails yellow, that kick by Cyril was the 157th on his left foot this year, Jeremy Warriner has a dog named Toby etc.) but his knowledge beyond this in a given sport doesn’t extend too far beyond that of the mug punter. So when it comes to athletics he’s got plenty of facts and figures to give some context to the casual viewer who only ever looks at track and field once every four years, but for those intimately involved with the sport they’re largely irrelevant.

To my knowledge Bruce has not played sport at any professional or amateur level since juniors. It’s also unclear what sports he participated in as a junior – he’s from Adelaide and there’s a photo floating about of him in an under 8s footy jumper so I’m going to speculate that he played Australian Rules football and cricket. So all of his knowledge of a given sport has been learned in theory rather than in practice. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, as there are plenty of professional callers who have never taken part in an athletic competition, as well as plenty of former athletes who make terrible callers. But things that are inherent to a sport, and learned by participant immersion in that sport, aren’t readily apparent to Bruce – he needs to have learnt them by explanation (in many cases from a text). So the analogy of Richie Benaud not knowing the laws of cricket as they relate to a runout doesn’t quite fit.

It’s possible that Bruce skimmed over the relevant IAAF rule about the torso crossing the line and did not retain it, or convinced himself that he knew better. But something that is inherently known by any person who trained in athletics competitions from juniors is not inherently known by Bruce.

Bruce’s first love was horseracing, where a horse is deemed to have crossed the finishing line as soon as any part of its body (invariably the nose) reaches the vertical plane of the nearer edge of the line. Perhaps Bruce deluded himself over the course of his professional career that, by extension, a human racing on a track is deemed to have crossed the finishing line as soon as any part of their body (foot, hand etc.) reaches that plane.

That Bruce is the best this country has got is less a reflection of the virtues of Bruce and more a reflection of the way professional commentators are trained and recruited in what is (by comparison to other markets throughout the world) a relatively unsophisticated television sports broadcasting landscape. Bear in mind that Bruce chased the Olympics coverage: he started at Seven when they had Australian rights to Olympics television coverage, then crossed to Ten for 1984 and 1988 (where he made his name), before jumping ship to Seven again when they won the TV rights for 1992 and beyond. So the reason Bruce has the job is that Bruce has always had the job.

Bruce knew what the rule is. And yes in the 1980's and probably 1990's he would have read the rule book, he was famous for his meticulous research, but I'd put money on the fact he's hasn't done more than skim read it in the last 20 years. I have seen vision of David Culbert in the commentary area with him pulling out the technical rule book and reading from the rules to explain a technical situation. Remember he is the caller not the technical expert. He used to use Maurie Plant for that as well when Maurie was involved in 7's Olympic and world championship broadcasts in the 1990's and 2000 olympics.

What Bruce was talking about was "The Look" of the win. He has spent too long in the AFL worrying about the look as that is all that the AFL seems to be interested in these days. He was of the opinion that you shouldn't get a win from falling over before the line completely rather than taking a dip to get your torso over the line and stumbling in your last stride. I see his point, but I don't agree with it.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

My feeling watching it live was that Felix had her covered but slowed up considerably in the last five metres and wouldn't have won either way in the end.

I know the angles are deceptive, but I reckon the lead changed 2 or 3 times in the last 30m.

I've watched the footage in this twitter embedded video with my Chrome browser set to 250% zoom and i still reckon there is a couple of times the lead changes.

 

[JackNah_8]

Bruce is the most professional commentator this country has.

I guarantee he knows more about the rules than anyone else. What it shows is how rarely that kind of finish occurs that even he didn't know if that was legal. He did the right thing to check it, rather than what AFL commentators do, which is to criticise the umpires or decision makers without even knowing the rules.

True, someone like Basil would just make up the rules on the spot

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

not sure Phelps is in his class..nobody asks whos the fastest man in the pool, it's all about who's the fastest man on earth, Bolt.

And if they did, the answer would be Anthony Ervin.

 

[SJ]

I know the angles are deceptive, but I reckon the lead changed 2 or 3 times in the last 30m.

I've watched the footage in this twitter embedded video with my Chrome browser set to 250% zoom and i still reckon there is a couple of times the lead changes.

I sort of disagree, I don't think Felix ever gets in front - I think she pulls level at about 47.9 and that's about as close as she gets.

 

[Teen Wolf]

It's roughly akin to someone like Richie Benaud not knowing the rules around a run out in cricket.

Consulting a rule book doesn't mean a person doesn't know the rule. It's more accurately akin to a hit-wicket decision such is the rarity of the situation, I wonder what Richie Benaud would do then?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Another great night of track and field with so many firsts. I will put the track ones in here.

Women's steeplechase
Ruth Jebet dominated running up front to win Bahrain's first ever gold medal in any sport and was winthin a second of not only came within one second of the 3000m steeplechase world record. It started rather slow so to get so close to a WR shows how quick the second half was. It was a first women's steeplechase medal for USA bronze. Yes Jebet is a Kenyan who changed nationality at 16 years of age.

The Aussie girls did well with Madeline Heiner Hills getting a top 8 spot and finished 7th and Genevieve Lacaze getting 9th. Both benefit from a near WR race as both did a PB. You cant ask for much more than that. Just like Elosie Wellings set a PB in the 10,000m along with 12 others inc the winner Ayana setting a ew WR.

Men's 800m
First time in 52 years an 800m champ defends his Olympic title. David Rudisha ran a near perfect race in 1.42.91 to repeat what kiwi Peter Snell did in 1960 and 1964. He is just so smooth and beautifu to watch. I have no idea what countryman Alfred Kipketer was doing as he sprinted to the front and tried to run off the field like Rudisha did in London. He ran the first 400 in 49.23 almost the same time as Rudisha did in London and he paid the price and finished 6th.


Women's 400m
A Dive for first?? I am a big Allyson Felix fan and first she has been denied the opportunity to do the 200/400 because of scheduling over the last few Olympics making it impossible but injury has also denied her any chance this Olympics and she spent the season concentrating on 400m. She was trying to be the first women to win 5 Olympic golds. I reckon if the adjusted the schedule the last 3 Olympics like they did in 1996 for Michael Johnson and Marie-Jose Perec to do the double in Atlanta she would have had 5 by now.

I noticed Shaunae Miller in the opening ceremony carrying the flag and with the blue hair. It was a great run by her and despite the dive she led for most of the race, with Felix only clawing her way back in the last 50m or so of the home straight. The Bahamian launched herself over the line,took gold and ran it in a PB of 49.44. First Bahamas individual gold in 12 years.

Heats
3,000m steeplechase the Kenyans did their thing and looked comfortable. Before the meet started I wrote the 3 things I'm most looking forward to are the Bolt double, half done, Rudisha repeating an Ezekiel Kemboi winning his 3rd gold in the steeplechase. Just after midnight Wednesday night I will be glued to the box watching. The 2 yanks ran well and double silver medalist Mahiedine Mekhissi looked comfortable.

400m Hurdles - lots of yanks and Jamicians looked good but I reckon Danish European champ Sara Slott Petersen look the best in winning her heat. Aussie multiple champ Lauren Wells got thru to the semi as the 2nd last one of times. Men's 400m heats I missed

110m hurdles started in pouring rain then were cancelled and they let the runners from first 2 heats re run their race. Nobody stood out to me.

200m Women's looks as enticing as the women's 100m. Great run by Aussie Ella Nelson. She was close to her PB and I was surprised that she is the 7th fastest Aussie of all time and her 22.66 has only been bettered by Gainsford-talor, Freeman and Raylene Boyle at an Olympics. Looking forward to what the women will do tomorrow first the semis will be tough but Schippers, 100m champ Elaine Thompson and Nigerian Blessing Okagbare are all in the same semi and only 2 get an auto qualifier and i reckon the winner probably comes form 1 of these 3, with Bowie the only other one who could get past these 3.

 

[GreyCrow]

Don't be, because it was one he didn't know.

Finally had a look at this while looking at other highlights. In an earlier 400m semi a male runner fell across the line to finish 4th and qualify. So it wasn't as if it was new to him.

So yeah he would have known

 

[JackNah_8]

Finally had a look at this while looking at other highlights. In an earlier 400m semi a male runner fell across the line to finish 4th and qualify. So it wasn't as if it was new to him.

So yeah he would have known

even, in the 110 m hurdles another guy dived at the finish line today

I think Bruce just wanted Felix to win

 

[Drummond]

even, in the 110 m hurdles another guy dived at the finish line today

I think Bruce just wanted Felix to win

With good reason, she's a legend. Last year's world champs she looked incredible, she won the 400m ahead of Miller, and absolutely carved up the track in the 4x400 relay. Pity she's had such a rotten run with injuries this year.

 

[JackNah_8]

Bruce during the 110m hurdler race (re: the diving).

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/rio-201...tor-de-oliveira-dives-over-finish-line/#page1

Bruce "it's the torso that counts" He knows the rules.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

As someone who likes motorsport. I'm glad Allyson Felix doesn't have fans like Lewis Hamilton.

 

[Oaktree]

The Dive for Gold. It was a great 397m run by Shaunae Miller and a very lucky 3m dive. I have never seen a dive like that to win. Like like a combo of exhaustion, stumble, over leaning forward and shear luck.

Felix was going to be the first women to win 5 gold medals in athletics but she wasn't the first past the post in terms of torso but probably was the firt past the post in terms of both legs.

I feel that a dive should only count if the whole body gets across the line in the one motion.

This dive saw her legs still behind the finish line when she fell IIRC.

It just looked dodgy.

I was kinda torn as I am a Felix fan but since Miller led the whole way and Bahamas would get a gold medal, wanted her to hang on.

At first I was happy she won, but now feel like Felix was slightly hard done by.

 

[Cleavy]

Next person who dives/falls over the line has to do "the worm" before getting to their feet.

 

[Gerry4]

I truly believe she lunged at the line and over-balanced due to being absolutely spent. That is entirely possible as the 400m is the most brutal event on the track.

 

[Kram]

I truly believe she lunged at the line and over-balanced due to being absolutely spent.

Kind of like this guy.

 

[GreyCrow]

Suffragettes have a lot to answer for IMO

 

[Hawthorn United]

This Jap girl is flying. Wonder when she'll get reigned back in.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Lol lapped after 2600m

 

[kaiserchief13]

How do these girls qualify being so slow? 2 of them lapped