Was the move to the Metric system the blame for decline in track popularity? No Joe ever asks "what's your 1500m time?&q

No one ever asks me what my 1500m time is... but they do ask me what my 5k and 10k times are.

No one ever asks for my "metric mile" time either.

maybe the US should switch to the metric system just like everyone else has!

Isn't anything Euro the downfall of everything?

I don't think it really matters because if I were to tell them I run a 12 min 5k the average joe would just say wow thats fast, but if I were to say I run a 16 min 5k they would probably say wow thats fast.

the average joe doesn't know crap about running anyway so I say forget them and stay metric, its the better system.

America needs to go metric.

Feet and Inches wrote:

Isn't anything Euro the downfall of everything?

Maybe so, but if so, that shouldn't make a difference when choosing between the metric system and the imperial system since both originated in Europe.

Being a proud American I've got to side with whoever it was above who said that the USA should switch to metric. I'm not saying this should happen overnight but it should happen. Having two systems of measurement complicates things and the metric system is in much wider use worldwide. Plus, the metric system makes more sense, it's all in easy multiple of ten and prefixes which are uniform across all units of measurement.

Hands up now! Who actually thinks a return to imperial measurements, the Mile and the 100 yards is going to overthrow the popularity of the NFL/NBA/MLB?

Or, put it another way: how has Track's popularity taken such a dive in Europe? Nothing to do with imperial there.

Pedantic Pedestrian wrote:

Hands up now! Who actually thinks a return to imperial measurements, the Mile and the 100 yards is going to overthrow the popularity of the NFL/NBA/MLB?

Or, put it another way: how has Track's popularity taken such a dive in Europe? Nothing to do with imperial there.

Kenyans!

I still don;t understand why race directors invite 15 Kenyans to a race in Europe and no one form any other county , it get's quite boring after a while

brahsuf wrote:

Pedantic Pedestrian wrote:

Hands up now! Who actually thinks a return to imperial measurements, the Mile and the 100 yards is going to overthrow the popularity of the NFL/NBA/MLB?

Or, put it another way: how has Track's popularity taken such a dive in Europe? Nothing to do with imperial there.

Kenyans!

I still don;t understand why race directors invite 15 Kenyans to a race in Europe and no one form any other county , it get's quite boring after a while

They will invite you too, if you start running fast enough!

I've never been alive during a time when track was popular at all, so I don't know what it was like back in the day, but I really can't see how it could've ever been very popular. Track & Field is just inherently boring from a spectator's point of view, especially compared to other sports. The vast majority of people will watch the Olympics every four years because it is kind of neat to see some guys running really fast or jumping really far, but it's just a novelty to them. I'm not upset about this and I don't have dreams of the sport overtaking basketball or soccer in popularity, I'm just happy to be able to participate (kind of) in the sport and follow the elites via letsrun.

I've always thought it interesting that even though T&F is in run in terms of the metric system, rarely are the natural metric distances of 1K or 2K or even 500m (½K) ever contested. It's natural for us in the US to think of someone's time in the mile because everything is measured in miles. Wouldn't it be natural in the rest of the world to wonder how fast someone could run 1K since everything is measured in kilometers?

But the current standard T&F distances are based on the remnants of the old imperial distances (400m & ¼ mile; 800m & ½mile; 1500m and 1 mile). But the current distances are so traditional and standard now that it'll never be reconsidered.

YES! Metric messed up a lot of tradition. Jim Ryun ran the mile under 4 minutes and then they go to metric and everything goes away. Ryun ran under 4 because I ran 4:01.5 and I ran 4:01.5 because Dennis Carr ran 4:08.3. There is a tradition of mile running going back to the core of American running tradition. The record set this year becomes the goal for tomorrow. Because we don't use metric in everyday life it means nothing to us when we get onto the track. Nobody thought of that when they decided it would be a good idea to do as France does.

I think we should go BACK to miles and bring American running back to the front again.

A significant decline in the popularity of track & field in the United States was precipitated by the US Boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. The already-established runners kept at it for 5-8 more years, but a potential new wave of youth runner interest was stunted by an eight year lapse between Olympiads (re: youth being inspired by American distance running icons in the brightest spotlight).

Thank you Jimmy Carter.

Other factors siphoning off the popularity of USA track & field/competitive running include the money that can now be made in other major sports, very poor marketing by USATF and its corrupt coponents, as well as the 'dumbing down' of the competitive aspect of running by the johnny penguin/gallowalking generation, etc.

At this point you have a dichotomy of the hard-core track enthusiasts (i.e. Letsrun) who "get it" and the completely clueless weekend warriors who don't really care what Ryan Hall does compared to Dean Karnazes.

Unfortunately they outnumber us ten to one and seem to be lukewarm at best toward aknowledging and supporting our top runners.

*acknowledging

The boycott reasoning does make good sense.

My earliest memories of watching track and field were seeing Michael Johnson race the semi's and finals in his magic golden shoes at Atlanta in 96. I was about 10 or so when it happened and I didn't have a way to relate to how fast he was running or the times, but it was still an amazing first memory to take in of track & field.