Does anyone know why we currently run 1500 meters, as oppossed to running 1600 meters which is four laps? Is it because tracks at one time were 500 meters long?
Why 1500 meters?
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Because 1500m is one a half kilometers.
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they were 500m long in france in the early 20th century. remember, it was a frenchman who started the modern olympics.
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For many decades, there were no standard dimensions to tracks, but when international bodies began to standardize, they decided on 400m. It was close to the British standard-sized track of 440yds and did not take as much room as a 500m track would.
The 1500m distance made sense because it was 1.5 kilometers, a fairly round number, and close to the commonly run distance of 1 mile. But asking why they don't run 1600m is like asking why we don't run 1700 yds. -
I have seen similar threads and posed similar questions. I have yet to find a satisfactoy answer other than the 1.5 K thing. In that case, 2K or 1K would be more reasonable. 1600m would at least make some sense, while 1700 yards doesn't seem to fit any possible line of logic.
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SO 1500m is closer to being a mile than 1600m? I always thought 1600m was a mile...
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No, 1600m is NOT a mile. 1 mile = 1609.xx meters
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Kelvin wrote:
No, 1600m is NOT a mile. 1 mile = 1609.xx meters
No, no, no. A mile is 8 furlongs. -
a mile is eight furlongs? how many miles are in 20,000 leagues? i think its time for a change, we should run "leagues" now instead of "miles" its overated. ;-)
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It seems like the 1000m should be a more popular race, as it has the advantage of being an exponent of 10 in a system based on 10's. For some reason, asking people how fast they can run a K has never caught on like asking them how fast they can run a mile.
