oh my god racewalking is just ridiculous

Ghost wrote:

I suggest you try walking (one foot always in contact with ground) at 4:00 per km speed (just over 6 mins mile pace).

It is incredibly difficult and these guys can race at that pace for 20km or just a bit slower.

Elite race walkers are among the fittest and strongest athletes on the planet.

Ghost in Khon Khaen, Thailand

the point is, ghost, that none of them always has one foot on the ground - they all go airborne.

I know that is not technically 'cheating' by the rules of the sport, but the truth is that they are running, just awkwardly. They all go airborne virtually ever step. The only difference between walking and running is the locked knee and some space on the airborne spectrum.

And you have the brains of a squirrel. That's NOT impressive!

And despite all the miles runners run, you can't walk one mile in 8 minutes, which any junior female walker can do. We may only be as fast as elite women runners, but you aren't as fast as our average junior women.

Everyone expects you to be stupid, but this is abusing the privilege.

You'd call what most of those 80,000 are doing 'running'? I used to enter marathons for training and crush the majority of 'runners'.

Mark Twain was thinking of you when he wrote: "Better to keep your mouth shut and let everyone wonder if you are stupid than open it and remove all doubt."

a slowmo video that shows race walking is just running, in an awkward fashion.

Responding to a post that contains statistical information by calling the poster stupid and providing an off topic quote only points to you being the stupid one.

If the stats are off, provide evidence to the contrary!

What is the highest number of finishers ever in a walking race?

Just so everybody knows the rules don't require that you have one foot on the ground. Rules require that it appears that you have one foot on the ground. This is why everything is so wrong.

Any sport can made to look silly, particularly if you are not used to it but:

I do believe there is certain awkwardness in race walking because you have to force the body to more very quickly in a motion that is not as efficient as running would be at that speed.

Other track and field events that some not track & Field people ridicule include the triple jump and the steeplechase. But those who do those sports, take them seriously.

There were 10 people in the 2012 US Olympic Trials for the 50km walk. Ten!

Pathetically non-competitive event!

Looby wrote:

And despite all the miles runners run, you can't walk one mile in 8 minutes, which any junior female walker can do. We may only be as fast as elite women runners, but you aren't as fast as our average junior women.

Lol! Good for you that you can walk a mile (or many) in 8 minutes...I couldn't care less, and probably 99.9% of runners couldn't care less, that I/we can't walk a mile in 8 minutes, or that I can't walk as fast as an average junior woman. Ya'll may be athletic, whatever, and probably more athletic than me, but racewalking is just goofy. There's nothing captivating/impressive about watching someone walk fast - just funny! :) Maybe that's why it should be kept in the Olympics or whatever - because it's still entertaining them but in an entirely different way than the rest of the events...it can give them all a good laugh. :)

Wow there are actually people on here defending racewalking. Amazing.

Look, the fact that it's DIFFICULT and physically demanding is not a defense. It's still PREPOSTEROUS.

USATF 2014 National 50km Championships had 10 competitors, four of them foreigners.

A field of six competing for a national title!

Race walk is the least competive sport on the entire planet. Name one sport, or even activity, that has fewer than six people competitng for a national title.

I accidently saw some of the 2015 World IAAF 30km men race walk on TV. Steve Ovett was commentating. A Chinese guy was suffering in the heat, and Ovett said, "He's really hurting. He's dropping off the pace. He's wobbling. He's starting to walk. I mean umm he's walking but not walking."

Then he said that race walk, especially the 50km is a battle of attrition. His co-commentator said, "Yes, it's a battle of attrition in the comementry box during the 50km walk too." Both commentators then started laughing.

The top walkers are very impressive and aesthetically pleasing to watch. Just watch some of the top Russian walkers or Erik Barondo ( Guatemala silver in 2012 20km walk).

Walking is not ridiculous - the fact that it's low impact means it can be sustained much longer than running.

If you were to cover long distances every day - you would walk - not run - because long term running is not sustainable beyond a limit of about 2hrs a day.

Walking is the most natural sport for mankind. Race walking is the natural human desire to take an activity to its utmost limit. There is little natural about swimming backstroke or butterfly ( crawl/freestyle is faster and more efficient) but both backstroke and butterfly are Olympic events and not derided by people.

Ghost in Khon Khaen, Thailand

Ghost wrote:

aesthetically pleasing to watch

No. Just no. And I am friends with an Olympic race-walker.

There is no 30km walk. It is either 20km or 50km.

I love watching race walking (elite level). It is fascinating. There is always a lot of drama, especially because many walkers are right at the limit - and if they 'run' they get 2 warnings...third warning is dq! This is what makes it so exciting.

Race walkers are the true gladiators of the modern era in Athletics.

Ghost in Khon Khaen, Thailand

When I walk on by, girls be looking like damn he fly

I pimp to the beat, walking on the street in my new lafreak, yeah

..

Girl look at that body

Girl look at that body

I work out

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah!

Do the wiggle man

I do the wiggle man

Yeah

I'm sexy and I know it

"True gladiators of track and field!"

You're fooking joking right?

It is, literally, the least competive sport/activity in the entire world.

The talent pool is the weakest of any sport on the planet.

Six Americans competed in the 2014 US 50km national championships. Six!

I could have come 7th in that race, eating a hamburger and drinking a beer at each fuel station, and stopping at halfway to run one out in the PortoJohn.

So if the elites can walk at 6:00/mi pace, how fast can they run? Or can they walk faster then they run? I know I can run a helluva lot faster than I can walk but can they?

2013 USATF 50km results. The race was men and women combined. COMBINED! 11 competitors in total!

Truly, literally, the least competitive sport/activity on the planet.

How much money is USATF wasting on holding these events?

Race walkers look like wet noodles. I remember when I was a kid and I heard that there was an Olympic sport where people see who can walk the fastest. I thought the person was joking. And to the guy who tried to insult runners by saying we probably couldn't even walk 8:00 pace - touché, you got me. Now excuse me while I put a shotgun in my mouth to end my shame.

*touche