World Athletics Championships 2017

[planetgeli]

Probably yes. I think 'new British record' would have done, tbf.

New European record apparently, beating one going back to 1999.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Ah, because it's 'cutting corners', so to speak? Could be, could be...

If it's not instant dq, no wiggle room, it'll probably be fine. Nobody got impeded. And home team.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

BBC feed has one of the Jamaican team saying that Bolt keeps apologising to them but they are just like "injuries happen in sport"

Aww imagine one of the the best athletes ever apologising 'cos he's injured.

 

[Casual Observer]

Germans were very mildly impeded but they finished 4th and wouldn't have got 3rd had they not been. Sour grapes for the Germans to complain given that it didn't affect their finish position but maybe I'm biased. No news an hour and 20 minutes after the race - no news is good news and all that.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Germans were very mildly impeded but they finished 4th and wouldn't have got 3rd had they not been. Sour grapes for the Germans to complain given that it didn't affect their finish position but maybe I'm biased. No news an hour and 20 minutes after the race - no news is good news and all that.

From LC's screen shot it's hard to say definitively, but the incoming German is still a distance back in that shot, and the foot will have been away from that line long before she reached that point. I would argue that they were almost certainly not impeded at all.

I'm definitely biased, but I guess it's where the burden of proof lies? Dunno.

 

[Corax]

She didn't gain an advantage and didn't impede anyone. But they have been fussy over the rules, a bit rules for rules' sake.

If they're so fussy over the rtules, I'm curious as to why nothing was done about Butchart being hauled back by the shoulder in the 5000 (By Kejelcha, I think)

 

[Sirena]

I often think there's a little bit too much trying to find ways of disqualifying athletes. It's about the fucking athletics, not about the rules and micro-infringements.

Mind you, I have a feeling it was the Brits who have made the most use of rules-whingeing in the past....

 

[Corax]

I often think there's a little bit too much trying to find ways of disqualifying athletes. It's about the fucking athletics, not about the rules and micro-infringements.

Mind you, I have a feeling it was the Brits who have made the most use of rules-whingeing in the past....

That's the thing - the Butchart one was in no way "micro". Kejelcha very deliberately reached up, grabbed him by the shoulder, and pulled him back. It was absolutely deliberate, not just part of the argy-bargy of a middle-distance race. If the rules aren't applied for that but are enforced for tiny infractions elsewhere, then it makes a mockery of the whole framework.

 

[Hollis]

As a racer and a race winner, as a competitor, Farah's the greatest, has to be - totally dominated two events for what six years? Others have other kinds of claim, I'd say, as they were also record-breakers.

Always disliked Coe, for some reason, even as a kid. Cheered Ovett

Yes, greatest athlete is a different claim. While winning a world championship/Olympics at any time is a massive achievement, Farrah has not been up against a Bekela or Gebrselassie... When you look at the times he is way off their pace (...unless they were all on drugs.)

Running in a different era he could have ended up as another Paul Tergat as far as medals go..

 

[Sirena]

I'm watching the race walking out of a sense of duty and fairness more than anything else.

With apologies to any fans, it does seem like a discipline which may have started properly but (like opera singing perhaps) now bears no relation to any sort of natural pursuit.

I can see how it happened. Baron Pierre de Coubertin (he who re-invented the Olympics) would have been going round all the posh London clubs trying to stir up interest in his sporting dream and talking about this sort of race and that sort of race. And one old country chap would have piped up "There's Lord XXX, he's not much of a runner but he's a demn fine walker. Never seen a chap able to keep up with him..."

And so race walking would have been invented; probably, originally, more a tweed suit and sensible shoe thing than anything....

Still, it's a lovely morning for a stroll up in London.

 

[Mumbles274]

My dad used to be friends with Don Thompson. I've met him loads before he died when my dad ran marathons with him. Shares many a car journey and would have heard the bathroom story first hand Remarkable person as you'd expect from an Olympian ( Don, not my dad )


Don Thompson (racewalker) - Wikipedia

ETA pic about 1986/7? No need to say which one of the 'mouse who won gold'

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

And so race walking would have been invented, probably, originally, more a tweed suit and sensible shoe thing than anything....

It grew from the noble art (ie gambling vehicle) of Pedestrianism

 

[Sirena]

It grew from the noble art (ie gambling vehicle) of Pedestrianism

I didn't know that.

Very good. There's another thing I've learned....

 

[Sirena]

It grew from the noble art (ie gambling vehicle) of Pedestrianism

I love the idea of the woman who walked a quarter of a mile every quarter of an hour for 1000 hours.

It sounds silly but -apart from the physical work - it means a month and a half with only snatched fragments of sleep.

 

[Sue]

So not really getting the walk thing. Anyone watching it? (Turned it on briefly, then off again.)

 

[Sirena]

So not really getting the walk thing. Anyone watching it? (Turned it on briefly, then off again.)

Top British hopeful just got red-carded out of the race. All those years training.......

 

[Sirena]

Black South African now zoomed into the lead.

It's not really a discipline where black athletes have ever excelled, so a bit of turn up for the books

 

[stavros]

Sorry can't seem to link on my phone as now in bed with a small child snoring in my lap but a comment on the BBC said they are the 3rd fastest team in history behind the USA and Jamaica.

So yes 3rd fastest nation

Where were the UK in the pecking order before last night? Jamaica and the US would have been ahead, and the other possibles that spring to mind would be Canada, Trinidad or, as a long shot, Nigeria.

That as good as Akabusi overtaking the 400m champion on the last leg in 1991.

 

[Sue]

Bloody hell!

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Having a serious 2012 flashback here, mostly due to the stadium. It's such a great venue for athletics.

 

[belboid]

Those last fifty metres from Semanya, fucking astounding

 

[kabbes]

Two great races there in the womens' 5000 and 800. Fantastic stuff.

 

[Sue]

The 5000m was ridiculous. The leading pair breaking away and being way ahead and then Obiri winning by miles. The rest were nowhere.

 

[Casual Observer]

Come on Asbel. The only non-British athlete (apart from Bolt) who has me shouting at the telly.

 

[Casual Observer]

Ah well, a couple of years past his prime.

 

[kabbes]

Definite unfair impediment for the Spaniard by the Norwegian there.

 

[Casual Observer]

Cheers Bren. Saw him competing at Crystal Palace in 1978.

 

[Sue]

Sad to see Brendan Foster go. Hope he enjoys his retirement.

 

[kabbes]

Hero is a hero. Best mascot ever, by a long way.

 

[colacubes]

Hero is a hero. Best mascot ever, by a long way.

The 6 year old who came with us to the stadium yesterday was fucking obsessed with him To the point she wanted to go and hunt him down and get his autograph when we were leaving. Fortunately she was distracted from this mission by a doughnut