Who's the better decathlete? Haile G. or Adam Nelson?

You guys kill me with your 52 to 53 second predictions for Nelson. I laugh everytime I see one.

Wow, you guys are out there. Nelson weighs about twice what Geb weighs. In any discipline where you have to propel your own body upward or foward that is a HUGE disadvantage. Granted he has excellent explosive strength, but you can't seriously think that compensates for weight in a long jump or high jump.

Geb might not be able to bench 200 but he's got extraordinary core strength and agility. If you've ever tried the pole vault you know that it primarily comes down to core and lower body strength. There's very little pull-up involved, it's all in the speed of approach, the push-off and balance. Geb probably has as much upper body strength as some elite female pole vaulters, better core and legs, and he weighs about the same. He can go over 4m if he hits it right. Nelson with a special reinforced pole could maybe swing 2.5.

Any other non-throwing discipline, Geb would kill Nelson, no doubt. Just the idea of Nelson running the 110mH is hilarious. I seriously doubt he can jump 42" 10 times without taking a break. He wouldn't break 30 - zero points. Geb would be around 20, although he would look pretty funny too, being only a foot taller than the hurdles himself.

Geb's a sub-12 100 guy for sure. Nelson might get 17 but there's very few points for that. On the 400 he might just barely break the 81 you need to get points.

Geb would still score 3-400 in all the throwing disciplines, a lot more than Nelson in the runs or jumps.

To whoever it is that called me crazy for thinking Adam might out highjump Haile, I actually think there's very doubt of it. As the smallest of the elite American shotputters, Adam is agile. He's also very likely a far superior athlete (he does have a football background). Haile is just a tiny guy can run at a good clip forever. Heck, he might not even be able to long jump 14 feet.

A football background? Maybe if it were proper football you'd have a point. Didier Drogba would embarrass both of these guys even on a bad day, but what you're talking about is a sport that has more commonalities with sumo wrestling than with T&F.

Laughable.

hypnotoad wrote:

A football background? Maybe if it were proper football you'd have a point. Didier Drogba would embarrass both of these guys even on a bad day, but what you're talking about is a sport that has more commonalities with sumo wrestling than with T&F.

Laughable.

You obviously haven't a clue about throwers. Stop making a fool of yourself.

And soccer players rarely acquitted themselves well in the superstars against football players.

hypnotoad wrote:

A football background? Maybe if it were proper football you'd have a point. Didier Drogba would embarrass both of these guys even on a bad day, but what you're talking about is a sport that has more commonalities with sumo wrestling than with T&F.

Laughable.

Yeah thats why so many American professional football players were terrible track and field athletes in HS and college. Aside from a lot of skill position players (CB, WR, and RB) who dominate the sprints in college, there are also many who have done quite well in field events.

Might just barely break the 81 needed to get points?

You are just flat-out wrong. I would bet that Nelson could break 60. A former distance runner on my college team had a PR of 60.x for 400 when he was in his absolute best shape---less than 150 lbs and well over 6' tall. After basically not running a step for over a year he was able to run a 66---while weighing almost 50 lbs. more (all fat). All I'm saying, is that for whatever reason, fat dudes can still roll for a lap. And Adam Nelson isn't even fat.

Don't know the 2 following as absolute facts but I think they are true...

Pary O'Brien, greatest SP'er ever, finished 3rd in California State High School champs in the 100 yard dash. At least I think so.

Billy Cannon, all-time LSU football great, was SEC champ in the SP and the 100. Pretty sure of this one.

SP'ers can be QUICK.

A very interesting proposition. First, some general notes: Nelson will have incredible explosiveness. His trains to be able to exert enormous amounts of power over fractions of a second. I do not doubt that he could have a 39" vertical jump. However, I can't see him having any sort of speed endurance - there is no need for it in his event, so I doubt he trains much for it, if at all. Also, simply his sheer bulkiness will be a great disadvantage in events like the hurdles, pole vault, and high jump. He would probably have to lift his center of mass 6" higher than Geb due to the size of his chest to clear the same height. Now, Geb, if we rolled back the years to his younger days, is pretty explosive for a distance runner. We know he did significant amounts of plyometric training, and he had great flexibility. His upper body strength isn't great, but above average for a distance runner. His small stature put his at a disadvantage is certain events. The other thing we must remember is the decathlon is an endurance event - you are damn tired after two days of continuous events.

Now on to an event by event breakdown:

100: Nelson smokes Geb off the line, and is well ahead at 40 m, but he is already at top speed, and rigging quickly. Geb, closes fast over the latter part of the race, and nips Nelson at the line. Geb: 11.60 Nelson: 11.72

LJ: Nelson's power on display here. His bulkiness is over come and he puts down a nice 6.23m. Geb keeps up admirably though, and posts a 5.46m. All those plyometrics a paying off.

SP: No contest. Nelson is a bit fatigued, and is short of his personal best, but still manages a 21.80m. Geb struggles and records a 10.12m

HJ: Again, the power of Nelson works to his advantage. With his 39" vertical leap, he almost jumps over his head, at 1.80m. Geb is less sucessful, achieving only 1.55m

400: Finally, Geb can redeem himself. Showing very little fatigue from the day's events, he runs a very impressive 49.69. Nelson struggles mightily in the home stretch to stop the clock at 56.21 seconds.

110h: Day two starts promisingly for Haile. Displaying his flexibility, he overcomes his height disadvantage to win the hurdles is a time of 17.32 seconds. Nelson looks awkward, and runs into trouble in the end of the race. A time of 19.02 seconds is the result.

DT: Back to the comfort of throwing for Nelson. Wins easily with a best throw of 44.26m. Geb does better than he did in the shot, but still way behind Nelson. 24.45m.

PV: Having secretly trained for a couple months, neither competitor kills them self. Nelson does manage one broken pole however. Geb posts 3.10m, with Nelson not far behind at 2.80.

JT: Geb posts his best throwing performance and records a throw of 40.85m. Nelson still wins easily with a toss of 55.33m.

1500: No surprises here. Geb is tired, but that only slows his down to a 3:34 performance. The lumbering figure of Nelson finally makes it across the line, exhausted, in 6:38.

Final point totals:

Geb: 6004

Nelson: 6024

Incredibly close competition. In the end, Geb's running prowness isn't enough to compensate for his lack of throwing acumen.

In college we had a thrower that was a decent athlete, he threw in the mis 40s with the 16lb shot. The coach turned him into a decathlete and he ended up running 53 for the 400m during decathlons and going under 12. This guy was not a small guy either, he was only a little bit smaller than Nelson but not as athletic.

Anyone that thinks Get could just run out and vault 10 feet really doesn't know anything about pole vault. He couldn't jump high either, he's only 5'04'' and I doubt he's got much of a vertical.

The amount of ignorance on here is staggering. Do people really know so little about pro throwers (and Adam Nelson in particular).

I wouldn't count out an upset by Nelson in the 1500 meters.

Geb isn't going to run 3:34 in a decathlon and Nelson ain't running 6:38.

Geb isn't going to throw the jav 40m either. 45 meters for Nelson in the disc? That's not even 145 feet. He'd be more in the 170 range.

It would be somewhat close if it were held tomorrow, but if Nelson had time to train he'd murder Geb.

Nelson wouldn't break 8 minutes in the 1500. Nor would he break 70 in the 400.

There's no evidence that Geb can do anything athletically except run

I get to see some of the best throwers in the country train regularly.

They can run sub 70 for a 400 (they do it in fall conditioning) so there is no doubt that someone of similar athletic ability could do the same.

The 1500 would be the last event and anyone could run/walk an 8 min.

I get to see some of the best throwers in the country train regularly.

They can run sub 70 for a 400 (they do it in fall conditioning) so there is no doubt that someone of similar athletic ability could do the same.

The 1500 would be the last event and anyone could run/walk an 8 min.

Yeah, I'd go so far as to say Adam Nelson may not even have to compete in the 1500M to win the thing. His point lead before the event would just be too much to over come.

100M - Haile barely

100 Hudles - Nelson barely

400M - Haile by 6-7 seconds

1500M - Haile in a blowout of about 2:00

LJ - Nelson by 5 feet

HJ - Nelson by 6 inches

PJ - tie, both have a tough time

DT - Nelson by 100 feet

SP - Nelson by 40 feet

Jav - Nelson by 100 feet

So I have it Nelson 6 events (4 blow-out wins), Haile 3 events (2 blow-out wins), and one tie. I think that should lead to at least a 1000 point win by Nelson.

Ok so I'm just an average college thrower...ive thrown the shot 47 and the disc 145...here are all the numbers I can put up. BTW i'm 6'4 240...alot of fat.

100m 12.2

LJ 17.5'

SP 47

HJ 5'...off just a basic description of how to do it. No doubt I could do 5'6 if i practiced it for a week...i only have a 24" vert. If I had a 39" no doubt i could get close to 6' Shotputters usually have high verticals...

Never run a 400m...best guess would by 68 secs

Never done a 110H

DT just under 45m

PV..never seen a pole that can support my weight

JT 120'

Mile 7:30 this year...

I bet adam would destroy my 100, LJ, HJ and JT marks...geb can't say that. In fact I would most likely destroy geb in some of them at least

a miler wrote:

SP: Geb struggles and records a 10.12m

You're quite delusional if you think a 50lb man can throw a 16lb shot 34'.

My best estimate is 20'. Tops.