How Much Do Regular People Know About Track & Field?

Typically, the average American knows next to nothing about track and field. The only time their track IQ is raised is every four years when the Olympics roll around. Even then it is quite minimal.

Ideas for you!:

1. Name three male marathoners, past or present.

2. Name three female marathoners, past or present.

3. Do you know how many miles is a 10K?

4. Do you know how far an NCAA cross country course is for men? For women?

5. Can you name any American high school running phenom, past or present? (Sprinters don’t count.)

7. Complete the name of the famous runner: Dominated the marathon for many years: Eliud ______. High school phenom turned Olympian Dathan ________. Current marathon world record holder Kelvin _______. American bronze medalist in the 2004 Olympic Marathon Deena _____. Running legend and gold medalist of the 1984 Olympic marathon Joan _______.

I’m sure this isn’t a well-rounded survey, but if I had to come up with something on the spot this is what I’d come up with!

Yep. That is my hypothesis as well. But I still want to ask a few questions, record the answers and take a look at what people actually know.

So, what questions should I ask?

Well, I am afraid with the fill-in-the-blank names, the people will just say "no clue." Nobody on Earth knows who Deena Drossin is/was. My friends who are marathoners forget Kiptum's name. Nobody (out of 10,000 people) would know that.

That is why I like the ones where the person has to guess a range (of time or distance). At least people can use some "common sense" to help get an answer...

p.s. Why don't sprinters count in question #5? I can't name any HS sprinters and I follow the sport pretty closely. Gout Gout? Knighton? I guess I can name to teen sprinters!

Honestly, I just made up a test that I myself could pass! Pulled those questions straight outta my a$$.

I said “no sprinters” because I have to be able to say “ding ding ding!” when you give me a right answer, and make a bad buzz noise if you give me a wrong one. I couldn’t do that for sprinters.

Are the fill-in-the-blanks terribly hard for regular people? I’d still be curious if regular people can get one or two!

Anyways, it’s your survey. Ask whatever you think would be fun!

I like this idea. My recommendation is to stay away from asking about records because that's venturing into trivia territory rather than measuring general knowledge. Only a small percentage of people on this site would be able to give you the world records in the high jump and pole vault without having to look them up. Also, the question about normal jogging pace would be very difficult. I don't know the answer to that question. I have no idea how much the winner of the Boston Marathon gets either. Try to make the questions a bit easier to answer.

Naming three active track & field athletes is a really good question. It would be interesting to see if people can name three men and three women. I'd also ask people to list as many decathlon events as they can. That question would gauge general knowledge of track & field events.

With the high jump and pole vault, I am just curious if people will say 5 feet and 30 feet or if they will be "in the ballpark." I don't expect people to know the precise numbers, but honestly, if they said 10 feet and 40 feet, I would not be surprised.

I am just curious...

The problem with the names is that you can't even guess. "Name the 200m record holder?" will elicit no answer. "How far is a 5km?" will get me answers from 2 miles to 20 miles. People can at least guess...

p.s. With the Boston prize money question, I was just curious if they'll say $500 dollars or $10,000,000?

Lets talk about Larry Dunn, John Moon, John Gilbert, Vernus Ragsdale, Grundy Harris, Clyde Duncan, nobody here can and seriously doubt anyone else can either.

Al those cats back in the day sprinters but not Olympians or record holders.

The sport is weird, I can also do that with the hurdles, long jump, 400, 200 but can't talk steeplechase, the throws, anything over a 400, Sure sure know the Mega stars of the sport, but that's it.

Joe Public knows nothing about the sport. Not unlike them old prewar blues, or sword and sorcery literature. There like track and field more a cult following.

Seeing if they can get in the ballpark on records makes sense. Go for it.

If you want to give your survey participants the ability to guess, you can pick an athlete and ask people to tell you one event that athlete does. If you're administering the survey via paper or online, you could even do one of those matching questions where you have a list of athletes on one side and a list of events on the other side.

Good luck! I'll be curious to see what you find.

How knowledgable are you about other sports? I can’t name a single NHL player, NASCAR driver or swimmer.

your question s/b how much do people who consider themselves track people know about T &F?

I understand not knowing the distance for a marathon, but I’d guess at least 25% will answer correctly or round to 26 miles.

People should know how far a 5K is in miles at least rounded down to 3 miles, even if they aren’t track fans.

I’d bet the majority know the 100M WR holder on the men’s side.

Q: Which of speed reserve and lactate tolerance do you think is more important in the 400m and why?

Ask if people know Carl Lewis or Noah Lyles. I’d bet more people can still ID Lewis over Lyles.

True story: A guy saw me running and asked if I ran marathons. I said, "No, I race the 800m." He said, "How far is that?" I told him it was about a half mile and then asked him how far he thought it was. He said he thought it was about two miles.

The typical person in the US knows nothing about track and field. My questions would be more basic. Even so, I'd guess the typical person who is not a track fan could not get more than three right.

1) How far is one lap around a track?

2) Name three track events

3) Name three field events

4) In the 400 meter run, runners start in different lanes, but they don't start side by side. Why not?

5) In some track races, a bell is rung. What does it mean when the bell rings?

Hansen brothers.

Rocky Bobby

Tarzan

A few might get question 1. That's it.

I agree! I can't name a single male, American soccer player. I know Landon Donovan used to be a player, but since then, zero.

I can't name a single female soccer player either, except Megan Rapinoe, but I think she might have retired.

I can name baseball, football, tennis, basketball, skiing, swimming, triathlon athletes. I like those sports (well, not baseball but I know who Otani is).

just went outside and asked the first person I saw if they know who Cole Hocker is. They said no. If I extrapolate that answer I guess that nobody knows about track and field.