The 1500m is traditional but the public has always understood the mile, not the 1500. The NCAA realized this and they made most if not all season meets the mile instead of 1500 (at least, that's what I read in the 2009 outdoor rule book). So the real reason for doing this would be to bring more fans and attraction to the sport...does anyone agree with this?
No.
And instead of using meters, let's just use yards. Who is the rest of the world?
No.
And the "public" in most of the world understands the metric system more than it understands the mile.
Would this be the full mile?
The real world uses meters, therefore there is no use for a mile race in a world class event as the Olympics.
SEXCguy wrote:
So the real reason for doing this would be to bring more fans and attraction to the sport...does anyone agree with this?
It would work for U.S. fans only...but it would be harder for an American athlete trying to chase a World "A" standard in the 1500m. Obviously trying to get the mark in a 1500m race will be easier than the mile with the conversion. Good for the fans, tough for the athlete.
this thread is either a troll, or it is the epitome of why the rest of the world hates the streotypical american.
the mile in the olympics is about as likely as ethiopia and kenya getting shut out at world cross
1600 meters is the logical choice.
I reject the opinion that the mile only matters to the U.S. The four minute mile was a worldwide event achieved by an englishman! Only 1 american has ever held the mile WR, so I'm assuming it matters to the men from metric nations who broke the record, and the meet directors who set the race up.
Finnally I discovered a BBC documentary on Youtube called the "supermilers" which profiled every man who had the MILE world record, it wasn't called the "super1500ers"
Yeah, but it was the freaking BBC. I mean...don't you even notice these things? The first B stands for "British."
last time I checked the British use the metric system...
British road signs use miles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilometre#International_usage
"The United Kingdom and the United States are the only two developed countries which continue to use miles on road signs.
Although the UK has officially adopted the metric system, there are currently no plans to replace the mile on road signs in the near future..."
AXC_AllDay wrote:
The four minute mile was a worldwide event
If by worldwide you mean US and England, then true.
The 4 minute mile was a "world wide" event in 1954 when Britain, Australia, and the US all still used the imperial measuring system.
Now the US is the only nation that isn't on the metric system, so most of the world is as unfamiliar with the mile as you are with the 1500.
That said, the 1500 is a sort of arbitrary distance itself, isn't it? A kilometer and a half? I've always sort of felt that high schools had it right with the 1600 and 3200. Four laps and eight laps of the track. I don't think its ever going to change though, and it will never change to the mile until the United States takes over the world and abolishes the metric system.
I would agree with the 1600 it makes more sense, and is the real "metric mile"
how does running a 3 3/4 lap race make any sense what so ever?
Why did we run the 100 yards, the 220 yards and the 440 yards. One of the three don't make sense - why not the 110.
Because it didn't matter.
3 3/4 laps is 1.5 kilometers (1 and a half)....as opposed to a 1.6 kilometers.... which makes sense when you multiply the 1.5 with 2...you get a flat 3k or 3000 meters, as opposed to 3.2 kilometers.....
and as a 1500 meter runner myself, I prefer starting a race at the beginning of a straight-away, as opposed to starting the race at the beginning of a turn.
No, there's no real reason to do that.
The larger point is how the 1500M became the standard when tracks are 400M around. I could see a 1500M if tracks were 300M or 500M around. But any event that doesn't start and finish at the same place has no symetry.
What were you're splits today?
45, 60, 60, 60