Carol Lewis - List Her Quotes

100-90-100-110, I just made the last one the longest (i think that does mean it has the potential to be the longest, the second was shortest too.) but really who cares?

deep breath wrote:

The first and last legs could be at longest 110m -- only one exchange zone to manipulate. Some coaches do put their fastest runner second, so that if he/she takes the baton early and hands it off late, they could be run 120m of the race. It could also happen in the third leg, but it is rare for coaches to want that leg to run more. So, they don't all have the potential to be the longest, and if one is most likely to be run longer by design, it would be the second. If this is what Carol Lewis meant by that quote, she was not completely accurate or clear, but at least she didn't resort to the brilliant rhetorical tactic of typing in capital letters.

Carol was a 23-foot long jumper, a 13.50 high hurdler, a 6-0 high jumper

she even ran a leg on a U.S. 4x1 team that won the Pan Am Games

she's really got a broad background in the sport

she should be a hell of a lot better at this than she is

i don't think she prepares beyond a few trite talking points

so then she tries to jam those points into the broadcast, whether what's happening has anything to do with them or not

she's really really bad

MISSTRESS CAROL tells part of a longer story when she says the long leg. The RUNNING done by the legs are indeed three different distances 105m 125m(x2)and 120m.

First the baton covers 400m it is carried 397 of them and passed 3 of them.

Acceleration zone 10m ,passing zone 20m

Ideal passing point is with incoming runner 5m before the end of zone and outgoing runner is 4m from end of zone. Deep enough to get up to max speed and not so far as to risk passing out of zone.

Giving 1m (x3) "free distance" at the hand off.

Accelerating with baton........Racing with Baton....m run

Leg one-..... 0..............105m.................105

................................ free m

Leg two.....26(10+16).........99.................125

.................................free m

Leg three...26(10+16).........99..................125

.................................free m

Leg four....26(10+16).........94..................120

..........................397+3=400

Now why does Carol say 2nd leg is longest when we know second and third legs run 125m... when CL learned about this stuff it was common esp in HS to run your legs- slowest lead,2nd fastest, 3rd fastest, megastud.

Now the slowest runner would give up the baton earlier in the zone sometimes before half into it and the,in comparison, faster guy carried it a tad longer.

This idea carries over to SMR+DMR when you want the 1/4 guy carring it as much as possible(and the 800 guy taking it at normal 4x400 passing speed -then settling into his pace.

Tom Hyland

hope this format into readable chart.

Carol consistently refers to Lopez Lomong as Lomon in the broadcast of the men's ncaa 1500m. Why would she not read the kid's name or at least listen to the other commentators?

To the guy that said she is smarter than the posters on letsrun - I don't think so! Just because someone makes more money does NOT mean they are smarter!

Carol is right about the 4x100m race. The second leg whom should be the fastest leg of the relay (a dumb coach puts his fastest at anchor) should care the baton the longest distance and hold the baton the longest amount of time. They should take the baton around 92-95m into the race and exchange it at 205-207m making their leg anywhere between 110m and 115m, what you don't want is your second leg running less than 105m with the baton. As a coach I specifically look at the 4x1 relay splits of other teams to see if those teams have weaknesses that can be exploited. The first thing I look for is the time the second leg carried the baton. Then I go to video to see were the baton was passed on 1 and 2 exchanges.

Everything else, Carol is usually blabbing about is incoherent and/or wrong.

The Sanya Richards quote almost made me spit out my drink. "She hasn't had a very good outdoor season because she hasn't raced yet." Priceless.

First, I'll adnit that I sometimes cringe at her comments and mispronouncement of names. That siad- listen to any sports broadcast. Probably the dumbest commentators are the guys in the NFL pre and post game shows. They analyze games to death and make some of the most ridiculous comments.

It's just the way it is I guess. Calling a race or any sports event would be tough.

stop talking please wrote:

Depending on where the handoff is made, they are rarely exactly 100m. In an event that close, the extra hundredths gleamed can make a huge difference.

"Gleaned."

Her cackling laugh is terrible.. just listen to the end of the Mottram interview on the front page...

kje wrote:

Carol consistently refers to Lopez Lomong as Lomon in the broadcast of the men's ncaa 1500m. Why would she not read the kid's name or at least listen to the other commentators?

To the guy that said she is smarter than the posters on letsrun - I don't think so! Just because someone makes more money does NOT mean they are smarter!

Gotta agree with that. How does landing a job as a track announcer (a sport that has a very small base of viewers) make someone a genius??? And I doubt she's making a ton of money, btw. She is an announcer because she is a retired track athlete and had a fairly accomplished career. So if your argument was "Carol Lewis was a more accomplished track athlete than any of you!!!", I would have to agree. But to say she is smarter doesn't make sense.

RIPT,

Yeah, I rolled off the couch and scared my dog by laughing so hard at that one.

i noticed the comment that the girl was passing runners like they were standing still on the backstretch, just because she is a fast runner doesn't mean she was actually passing anyone! it was like they heard the name of the girl and without watching the race decided to make up some commentary! i laughed

jacabo wrote:

Also talking about the 1500:

"just as bad as distance runners who start their watches at the gun..." (or something like that)

I tend to agree. I guess the argument could be made for rabbits starting their watches (though I'm doubtful there as well), but seeing folks stopping their watch as they cross the line blows my mind.

So why do Olympic relays almost always have their stud at the end if the stud shouldn't be at the end? Can you not make the last leg especially long by tweaking the exchanges?

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

So why do Olympic relays almost always have their stud at the end if the stud shouldn't be at the end? Can you not make the last leg especially long by tweaking the exchanges?

Alan

It's all about ego. The fastest runner wants the glory. But if you really wanted your fastest runner to get the longest run on the straight, or near-straight, you would put them second and have the first hand-off early and the second hand-off late. There is only one hand-off to adjust for the last leg.

I think it is important to remember that putting a 4x1 together is more than just finding the four fastest runners and lining them up. A good anchor really needs to be the person who can not only handle the pressure, but improve because of it. Sometimes your fastest athlete will tighten up and lose their technique once they get the baton and have to make up ground or hold someone off. On the other hand, some people thrive on being put in that position. I have heard some coaches say (this is HS, by the way) that they like to put their fastest runner first, so that their handoffs are easier because they are out in front and out of traffic.

If I remember right, the US put Maurice Green at anchor in Athens, and it's hard to argue that he was faster than Justin Gatlin at that time. But, they lost to the British, right?

dbandre wrote:

Stuff

This is ridiculous -- the 2nd leg and 3rd leg are interchangable, there's no reason why you couldn't make the 3rd one artificially longer as you would the second.

And why *would* you want to analyze weaknesses in other teams' handoffs? How does what other teams do in a 4x100 affect you all? It's not like this is football or anything...

Welll..... wrote:

Again, you must not be very smart. Think about it.

They are all 100 meters long. You keep using words like,

"potential" and "depending on," that is exactly what I said.

"Depending" on how you set them up, they all have the "potential" to be the longest leg. BUT THEY ARE ALL

100 METERS LONG.

Dude! You're getting desperate on this one. Just admit it...I'm infinitely more intelligent than you are. You are wrong and I am right...you Skinny distance running BITCH.

Carol Lewis supposedly was a better athlete or equal to Carl Lewis when she was in high school. Supposedly a great high school athlete in New Jersey