Super-slow-mo in Beijing reveals that race walking is a complete joke

You do realize that according to the rules hardly any of the Race Walkers are cheating right?

former d3 runner... wrote:

Either he has one hell of a knack for walking that does not translate well to running, or race-walking is a sport where an average d3 runner can make the olympic team. I vote for the latter.

Y'know, you are actually not the first person to reason thusly.

I would certainly urge the 100+ D3 guys--and, of course, the thousands of D1 and D2 guys--who can run a faster 10k than Dunn, to take up racewalking and get an easy trip to the Olympics.

Honestly, it boggles the mind to think that so many guys have turned down a guaranteed spot on the national team. What are they thinking?

The Truth777 wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi4DEdUmA6A

stupid letsrunners wrote:

You do realize that this is how distance runners are perceived by the rest of the world, too, right?

VERY FUNNY wrote:

No, you are wrong. Maybe street ball players or hill-billies who are losers at life. Great athletes respect other athletes and distance running is respected in most countries around the world. Look yourself in the mirror, decide how to make YOU a better person, and proceed.

Cheers.

Get a sense of humor, and get over yourself.

You are only proving how insular and deluded your life is. "Street ball players or hill-billies"? Get real -- life isn't a TV show or a comic strip inhabited by your stereotypes. Many very successful people (both athletes and non-athletes, a group with whom you seem to be unfamiliar) genuinely perceive runners not much differently than they perceive race-walkers: as dedicated athletic nerds. So what?

The mirror? Try one yourself, pal, and start with your reactionary post above. I am very happy with the fact that I love running, and will be doing it for life, regardless of the fact that the masses see us as geeks. It sounds like you might be the one who needs some convincing.

Ya knowone cares about baseball huh?how many countries do you know would actually sit down and watch 3 hours of ping pong.give me a break

you can handle that you'd be outwalked by women!!!! (:))

Badger wrote:

I can't help but think of Monty Python when I see it.

these olympics and Monty Python

Hadn't thought of that one, but it works, too.

Umm, yeah, see there are a lot of people globally who will watch Table Tennis at a high level, its only in North America where it has the "rec-room" stigma, you go to any park in China and there are public table tennis tables which are booked non-stop all day everyday. BTW China has a fairly large population of 1,330,044,605 and even if just a relatively small proportion of them, lets say 22%, were even vaguely interested in Table Tennis that would be like the entire population of the US watching 1 sport. So yeah poor choice of ridiculously unpopular sports in the world. + as far as I have heard table tennis is probably watched by way more the 22% of the population of China alone.

Racewalking is like seeing who can whisper the loudest...hahahaha.

present wrote:

former d3 runner... wrote:

Either he has one hell of a knack for walking that does not translate well to running, or race-walking is a sport where an average d3 runner can make the olympic team. I vote for the latter.

For the record, Philip Dunn started racewalking when he was 10 years old:

"Like many race walkers, Philip Dunn happened upon the sport by accident. When Dunn was 10 years old he entered the Junior Olympics 1500 meter run. Later he saw on the schedule the 1500 meter race walk. Young Dunn was confused. It was the same distance he had just run; why would they be having another run? So, his dad explained and showed him what little he knew about race walking. Dunn jumped into the race and won it. As a 10 year old, he thought that was cool. Dunn was encouraged to participate in the state meet, and came in 3rd. His immediate success was not enough to pull Dunn from running, but he added race walking to his routine.

Dunn stepped up to the regional, and then eventually went to Nationals in Provo, Utah, where he finished 2nd to another walker from Oregon. In Dunn's third and fourth years at the Junior Olympics, he achieved the gold.

In 1989 Dunn graduated to the next level and competed in the Junior Nationals. His second year at the Junior Nationals he placed second behind Tim Seaman. This didn't sit well with Dunn, motivating him to push for a qualifying time for the World Junior Championships, something neither Seaman nor Dunn had accomplished previously. After a few attempts Dunn qualified for the World Juniors, walking a 44:38, well under the 45:00 time that was required. Still on a high from qualifying, He raced a few days later and set an American Junior 5K record with a time of 21:14. Dunn raced in the World Juniors in Bulgaria, finishing 16th in a field that included three future Senior world champions..."

He went to a D3 school and ran XC and track, came back to competitive walking afterwards and made 3 Olympic teams in the 50k.

If we can learn anything from his bio, children, it's that racewalking and running are *different events* and success in one doesn't necessarily mean success in the other. You could be a great runner and average walker, or (like Dunn) a 4:00 1500 meter runner and 3-time Olympic walker.

If any of you "fast" runners would like to prove me wrong, you can make the Olympic team in 2012, get a free trip to London, and hang out with all the other U.S. athletes in the Olympic village.

Sorry but that doesn't prove your point at all. The difference in his success in racewalking versus running could still be due to the depth of the talent.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHAHHAHAHAa.......

Tired - you spent all that time going on and on about Dunn's amazing walking career, but you were proving our point the whole time.

The dude was cleaning house and no-doubt a GREAT race-walker and could only be a middle of the road D3 runner? More power to him, but I think this whole story should prove that race-walking is not a sport that harnesses elite athletes. Don't talk about how walking isn't running and isn't comparable - BS!!!! Elite walkers suck at running (shown by Dunn) and elite runners don't give a *hit about walking the fastest. Don't insult the wolrd's/nation's top track athletes by grouping them together w/ the walkers.

You want to know why I would not want to make the 2012 London team by walking to hang out w/ the other athletes? Because I'd feel like a complete horses a**

I shouldn't bother replying because I only marginally care about this topic, but good grief... Much like running and cycling, running and racewalking use different muscles through a different range of motion. I can run pretty well, but I'm not a great cyclist, nor could I be if I trained for it. Lance Armstrong isn't that great at running...if Ryan Hall trained for racewalking would he be really good? Who knows? I don't, and neither do you.

For your "depth of talent" argument-- true. There are not very many racewalkers in the U.S. I don't know anyone who does it, nor have I ever tried it myself. But to make the Olympics, like in other track and field events, you have to hit an international A or B standard. I suspect, given that walking is more popular in other countries than in the United States, that these standards are not easy. Perhaps they're softer than, say, the 10k or marathon standards simply because fewer people compete, but they're still there.

A quick internet search tells me we only have 4 racewalkers in Bejing, one in each event (M/W 20k and 50k), which I think is what we would expect given the number of people involved in the sport. We don't see this lack of depth in other track events because more people want to do them, and we get better athletes rising to the top. And yes, if we had a deeper pool of athletes in racewalking, maybe Dunn doesn't go to 3 Olympics because he's dominated by superior athletes. Maybe he's only as good as say, a 2:19 marathon runner, a 28:20 10k runner, or a 13:30 5k runner (yes, those are all not good enough for the Olympic the B standard). However, he's still been to 3 Olympics, which means he was able to hit at least the B standard at least 3 times over a 8-9 year period, which is probably worth something.

Further, by your logic, if the U.S. only produces, say, one person who can hit the B standard in the marathon, we should be able to ridicule that person as less than elite. That doesn't make sense to me. In my opinion (and I don't care if you disagree), anyone who can hit an international Olympic B standard should be considered an elite athlete, and anyone who makes 3 Olympic teams gets my respect. They might not be as "elite" as you would like them to be, but that's your problem.

not American wrote:

Get a sense of humor, and get over yourself.

You are only proving how insular and deluded your life is. "Street ball players or hill-billies"?

Many very successful people (both athletes and non-athletes, a group with whom you seem to be unfamiliar) genuinely perceive runners not much differently than they perceive race-walkers: as dedicated athletic nerds. So what?

I am very happy with the fact that I love running, and will be doing it for life, regardless of the fact that the masses see us as geeks. It sounds like you might be the one who needs some convincing.

Dear 'not American',

In the off chance that you are still there let me respond to the 3 sections of your post that I left above.

1)I beleive I have a great sense of humour as I laughed heartily at the 'youtube'/Snickers commercial, hence my screen name "VERY FUNNY". I thought it was VERY funny.

2)"(both athletes and non-athletes, a group with whom you seem to be unfamiliar)" I'm a bit confused. Are you claiming I'm not familiar with athletes AND non-athletes? For the record, 1 national coach, 1 team doctor(different country), and 2 athletes competing are in my circle of friends who are in Beijing right now as we sit and post. I maintain that in MOST countries around the world runners are respected, if not by all, then at least by other hard working athletes.

3) first sentence - I agree 100%. second sentence - see #2 above

(perhaps 'the tone' of my first post was misinterpreted. I responded while still laughing about the Mr. T commercial)

Again, cheers!

Tired wrote:

if the U.S. only produces, say, one person who can hit the B standard in the marathon, we should be able to ridicule that person as less than elite.

only if he walks, and swings his hips like an advertisement for perverts.

To former D3 runner. Philip Dunn was always a walker first. He was Jr. Olympic Champ in HS. In college he competed in racewalking and held a number of meet records in various walks. He also, as you stated, was a solid D3 runner. It was always his intention to be a dedicated race walker. I doubt you realize all the work, time and effort he has put into it!

I would love to see a "former d3 runner" at least attempt a 1500m walk on the track. Do it at night, if you are embarassed, put in honest effort, try to at least simulate a good form (which you would not be able to do, but at least try), and then report back. With time and how it felt. Report back the next morning, if you would be able to crawl to the PC, because you'll be sore as hell. Race wlaking is bloody hard, despite the weird appearance. So what, even field hockey players look weird, all bunched down, with stick too short for their height, or BMX riders with bikes too small for their frames...

BTW, I am a national class runner in my country and have many friends who are or were Olympians in racewalking. They are decent runners (mostly in the area of 31-32 10k runners, and 2:24-30 marathoners), but nothing spectacular. Their talent lies in RACEWALKING, not in running. Running is their supplemental training (about 50% of the time in 'volume" period, and about 20% of the time closer to racing season). I bet they are better runners that 95% of the lrc crowd. Hell, they are faster while walking than 70% of lrc crowd. Anyone who is disrespecting the dedicated and talented athletes had never achieved himself anything noteworthy in his life. Otherwise, they would have respected and recognized talent in different field than running.

I was just watching this on tv. It's obscenely hilarious, and should stay as an olympic sport - it's great television for stoners.

I say we have a high jump competition where you can only bend your knees two inches at take off.

Or maybe a mini-hurdles race. Does 5 inches seem too high?

Forrestchild wrote:

Anyone who is disrespecting the dedicated and talented athletes had never achieved himself anything noteworthy in his life. Otherwise, they would have respected and recognized talent in different field than running.

This is not only untrue it shows you have completely misunderstood the criticism of race-walking.

Most of the runners here admire good runners. They even admire the effort put in by far less successful runners. Sure you get the "If you can't break 15min for 5K you suck" trolls, but generally speaking most runners here appreciate the hard work that goes into running even at a lower level than themeselves.

Also most of the runners here can look at other sports such as swimming and see how awesome those athletes are.

But I think if we are honest we look at sports with smaller pools of potential winners such as rowing, canoeing and similar, and we can admire their dedication and talent while admitting that an Olympic gold in such a sport is not on par with an Olympic gold in a track event. Just an issue of less competition due to a less popular or less accessible sport.

When we get to a sport like Triathlon, because running is such a key element of it and because it is a new sport, runners tend to view it as an easy option. 10 years ago this was totally valid. A good runner could, more often than not, become a good triathlete fairly easily. These days it is far, far less so. Sure you still get the triathlon trolls here, and it is still not, nor will it ever be, at the same level of top level distance running (accessibility will always keep the pool down).

With a sport like synchronized swimming we just laugh! Why? Because it looks silly! Now, I accept that it requires great strength, flexibility and fitness. It's not easy! But it looks stupid, so we laugh anyway - that's life!

Now we come to race walking. Like Triathlon before, it is considered to be a similar sport to running at a lower level. You can take this charge and multiply it by 100! Firstly it is on foot, no swimming or cycling, and so the similarity with regards to the muscles used and fitness required is VERY similar when compared to other sports. Far more so than triathlon. And secondly while triathlon has become a professional multi-million dollar sport, race walking is light years from that.

Now like synchro, racewalking just looks silly - your instinctive reaction is just to laugh! It will never be able to overcome this. Look at the Mr T Snickers Ad! It was banned because they thought it was anti-gay! That's not runners picking on you - that's just what it looks like to Joe public!

So when you combine the weakness of the sport with the fact it looks silly, of course you will be looked down upon. And of course the fact it looks so stupid means very few people would be seen dead doing it, so again the standard drops further.

So the bottom line is you have a sport that is too similar to running with regards to fitness and muscular endurance to justify it's existence; a sport that looks completely stupid / gay / retarded; a sport where the pool of potential winners is so small that there would be more glory winning a Para-"Olympic" gold for 100m for one legged, one eyed and one armed people than an Olympic gold in racewalking.

And on top of all that you have the irony that was so well described by a previous poster who said it's "like seeing who can whisper the loudest!" Come on! You have to see the searing irony and tremendous humor in that!

So when you come on here, you just cannot argue anything constructive. We'll always see you as a lower standard of sport no matter what you say; thus the likelihood of an average runner becoming a world class walker is huge, but the reverse is impossible. You'll never convince a fairly good (say 16-17min 5K) college runner that a top race walker is a better athlete than them. All you'll do is dig your hole deeper.

And did I mention it looks stupid?