Greek female racewalkers surpass their male counterparts in the Greek championships!

it is just pointless wrote:

No one is saying that it’s not taxing or that these guys aren’t in good shape, don’t train hard etc. But I can easily go to my local gym and find people who are more muscular/cut and to my local high school to find people who move faster.

It’s just a silly sport. Any layperson who watches the sport can’t help but notice how ridiculous it looks. I don’t think most people would make the same observation about a 400m or mile race.

Really, most things are pointless on their own. You need to create the points. Those muscular cut guys at the gym? What's the point? It's a thing that matters to them and maybe a very, very, small number of people who know or see them. What's the point of the triple jump? It's just a variation of the long jump. Why have three "jumps?" Why not five, or two. or any other number?

Walking has never been especially popular in the US. But there are countries where it is, where people don't see it as silly or ridiculous. And it's somewhat popular among older athletes even here. What I really don't understand is why people who dislike it feel compelled to rant on about their dislike. Why not just ignore it?

Big Boy in the NCAA wrote:

I have been involved with track an field for 40 years. There is nobody who tries harder than me to appreciate every event. Racewalking is my least favorite. Triple jump is 2nd. Hammer is 3rd.

Well, there's no disputing tastes. I used to racewalk at a reasonably high level and even I might agree with you about it as a spectator sport; but I think that hammer is likely the most beautiful event in track and field, and that triple jump is very close.

I dislike it especially because you'll get the occasional track coach who lives and dies by it... except it winds up just being walking.

The Original Poster wrote:

Ghost1 wrote:

but going by that logic you could say that swimming the breaststroke is a waste of time because you can go faster in the freestyle and yet they have breaststroke events in the Olympics and other strokes which are slower than freestyle, in fact all the other strokes.

I would agree that swimming the breaststroke and all other strokes in the Olympics is a waste of time.

Yeah it's mostly a way for predominantly white countries to inflate their medal counts

I generally ignore it. Nothing against it and if it keeps people fit/happy thats good for them. But it’s repeatedly brought up on this (supposed running) forum as something to admire. Feel the same way about other niche sports including table tennis, curling etc

Sure most sports are pointless/arbitrary but I think even someone without any sports background can appreciate JE triple jumping 60 ft, a fast marathon, a great free kick, or a slam dunk contest. Race walking? Not so much.

Btw since these guys are so well-conditioned have any switched to distance running? Seems like they would do well.

It's racewalking.

In a nutshell, racewalking is a farce because it puts contrived restrictions on the most natural of human movements: locomotion. Even worse, those restrictions -straightened knees, and the necessity of keeping at least one foot on the ground at all times- are equally nearly impossible for competitors to adhere to at the speeds they move at, or for officials to judge properly with the naked eye.

As has been pointed out in this thread, watch video of any elite racewalking event in slo-mo and it's obvious that violations are egregious and constant.

just pointless wrote:

I generally ignore it. Nothing against it and if it keeps people fit/happy thats good for them. But it’s repeatedly brought up on this (supposed running) forum as something to admire. Feel the same way about other niche sports including table tennis, curling etc

Sure most sports are pointless/arbitrary but I think even someone without any sports background can appreciate JE triple jumping 60 ft, a fast marathon, a great free kick, or a slam dunk contest. Race walking? Not so much.

Btw since these guys are so well-conditioned have any switched to distance running? Seems like they would do well.

Ignoring stuff is usually good. It's my go to strategy. But I don't see any particular reason why someone with no sports background would be more impressed by a 60 foot triple jump than by someone walking as fast as they can for upwards of thirty miles. To me that's a lot more impressive than someone doing things that take a few seconds to do, e.g., free kicks, slam dunks, etc. But that sort of thing comes down to personal taste and there's no real right or wrong. Whatever you may think of how racewalkers look or of the problems with judging that the sport has it's a sport that requires tremendous endurance and I'm surprised there's not more appreciation of that among endurance runners.

I'd also differ with your characterization of race walking being repeatedly brought up on this forum. I see it come up as a topic every few weeks at best. And it is an actual athletics event so I think discussing it is a lot more relevant to the sport than over half the threads that are usually going here at any time.

And why do they mot switch to distance running if they're so well conditioned? That's easy. Why doesn't Gatlin switch to distance running? Why doesn't Centrowitz run the 400? Like any other track athlete, they choose the event where they're most likely to be successful. Most race walk Olympians would be good distance runners but rarely good enough to make a national team, although I will mention Aussie Ross Haywood here. He was 12th in the 20k walk in the Montreal Olympics but also had qualified for the marathon where he was a DNF.

La Ultima Palabra wrote:

In a nutshell, racewalking is a farce because it puts contrived restrictions on the most natural of human movements: locomotion. Even worse, those restrictions -straightened knees, and the necessity of keeping at least one foot on the ground at all times- are equally nearly impossible for competitors to adhere to at the speeds they move at, or for officials to judge properly with the naked eye.

As has been pointed out in this thread, watch video of any elite racewalking event in slo-mo and it's obvious that violations are egregious and constant.

And as has also been pointed out in this thread and in other places, RW judges do not have slow motion replay during an event. They, by rule, are to judge on the basis of what the naked eye can see and that's usually much less than slow motion shows.

HRE wrote:

[quote]La Ultima Palabra wrote:

I

And as has also been pointed out in this thread and in other places, RW judges do not have slow motion replay during an event. They, by rule, are to judge on the basis of what the naked eye can see and that's usually much less than slow motion shows.

That was my point; Racewalking cannot be reliably judged by the naked eye (And that's a huge problem in itself), but allowing it to be judged by this admittedly inferior and inadequate method turns it into a farce, with who gets DQd and who doesn't turned into a crapshoot, or a contest about who can most convincingly look like they're cheating the least.

"That was my point; Racewalking cannot be reliably judged by the naked eye (And that's a huge problem in itself), but allowing it to be judged by this admittedly inferior and inadequate method turns it into a farce, with who gets DQd and who doesn't turned into a crapshoot, or a contest about who can most convincingly look like they're cheating the least.[/quote]

Ok I need to weigh in after this comment.

First ALL events are contrived.

2nd) "In a nutshell, racewalking is a farce because it puts contrived restrictions on the most natural of human movements: locomotion." So are the hurdles, so is cross country running and trail running.

3rd} in regards to the judging accuracy - it is as accurate and no different then calling balls and strikes - if you can accept that then you can accept racewalk judging

4th} the best aspect of track and field is the diversity, in race culture, gender and even body shape. You like something watch it! You don't like something then don't watch it but don't stop others from watching it! You want to be a throws coach and not give a crap about the sprints - then coach your throws but don't make rules stopping others from coaching sprints.

If the walk were still in the college ranks there would be a lot more racewalkers.

Now why are the women better? Same reason why at some points my wife Michelle was faster then I was. 1} she is a better athlete then I am - world class talent vs national class. 2} depth more women compete overall or have better support then men. There are several women in the U.S. right now who are better then the men. Women are more likely to try it and not be discouraged.

Something a lot of people could do well to remember - you do you and if you can help people you should. If you can't be helpful and go get stuffed by yourself - really. There a lot of worse things to be worried about then some slow male Greek racewalkers who is just doing this as a hobby.

Michael Rohl wrote:

Ok I need to weigh in after this comment.

First ALL events are contrived.

2nd) "In a nutshell, racewalking is a farce because it puts contrived restrictions on the most natural of human movements: locomotion." So are the hurdles, so is cross country running and trail running.

3rd} in regards to the judging accuracy - it is as accurate and no different then calling balls and strikes - if you can accept that then you can accept racewalk judging

You're making two fallacious comparisons here: In hurdles, X-C running and trail running there are indeed obstacles that athletes must traverse or leap over, but there are no artificial restrictions on the athletes' gait as they do so.. Putting barriers in a race is not remotely the same as mandating that an athlete keep one foot on the ground at all times.

The accuracy of ball/strike calls in baseball is far higher than what happens in race walk judging; it's not even close. Yes there will be some disagreement over borderline ball/strike calls but a human eye is not incapable of judging a strike zone; the human eye is, however, incapable of precisely judging whether a race walker is lifting.

I'm not "worried" about anything here, nor am I denigrating anyone who racewalks either for fun, fitness, or competition. More power to them. But the fact is racewalking is so plagued by rule and judging issues that it's race "walking" in name only. The fastest athletes are actually just running with bizarre gaits.

If the women are faster than the men, it’s further proof that race walking is the world’s stupidest sport!

Watch a baseball game. You'll see pitches called balls that replay shows were strikes and vice versa. Watch an NFL game. You'll see passes ruled complete when replay shows the receiver only had one foot in bounds, offensive linemen holding pass rushers without getting called. Replay in any sport is going to show officials missing calls. It's inevitable. If it bothers you when you watch a sport, any sport, badly enough that you don't enjoy it then just stop watching that sport.

La Ultima Palabra wrote:

Michael Rohl wrote:

Ok I need to weigh in after this comment.

First ALL events are contrived.

2nd) "In a nutshell, racewalking is a farce because it puts contrived restrictions on the most natural of human movements: locomotion." So are the hurdles, so is cross country running and trail running.

3rd} in regards to the judging accuracy - it is as accurate and no different then calling balls and strikes - if you can accept that then you can accept racewalk judging

I'm not "worried" about anything here, nor am I denigrating anyone who racewalks either for fun, fitness, or competition. More power to them. But the fact is racewalking is so plagued by rule and judging issues that it's race "walking" in name only. The fastest athletes are actually just running with bizarre gaits.

Would you feel better about race walking if they changed the name to something like "stiff legged running?"