Blind paralympic athletes run faster than Centro

I have a friend competing as a T13 (In that race), and I can assure you his visual impairement is serious. In that category (the lower impairement category), runners have visual capacity between 5 and 20 degrees compared to your full 120 degrees. Due to his defficiency, my friend lost his driver license 10 years ago. Since he strive to fullfill his life regardless of his impairement, raising a family, running 120-140k/week, and many more special thing. He is going for a medal at the Rio Paralympic games. Please be respectful and open minded regarding their performance.

And cheer him on in his pursuit of a PG title over 5000m !

sgnjdm wrote:

why harder wrote:

How does being legally blind (a condition where you can still drive a car with corrective lenses) make you slower? I just don't see the huge advantage that 20/20 vision gives you on the track.

There are different degrees of being "legally blind". Hence the T11, T12 and T13 classes.

I have been a guide for many years and I have run with T11 guys who under the right conditions can run on their own on a track and with others who would be totally lost.

It's not that being blind makes you slower. It's how much harder it is for the athlete to train and compete.

This. My girlfriend is "legally blind" (not a very useful or professionally used phrase really) and can run on a proper track without help. Trails are hard for her, though, and crossing streets without well-controlled intersections is a life-risking move.

itajuv10 wrote:

I have a friend competing as a T13 (In that race), and I can assure you his visual impairement is serious. In that category (the lower impairement category), runners have visual capacity between 5 and 20 degrees compared to your full 120 degrees. Due to his defficiency, my friend lost his driver license 10 years ago. Since he strive to fullfill his life regardless of his impairement, raising a family, running 120-140k/week, and many more special thing. He is going for a medal at the Rio Paralympic games. Please be respectful and open minded regarding their performance.

And cheer him on in his pursuit of a PG title over 5000m !

Can someone provide a link to the different categories?

If your friend could ever drive, he must be very mildly impaired, right? (Unless his vision has been slowly getting worse?)

In any case, yes, it's pathetic that Olympic 1500 finalists ran the first half of the race at a fraction of their ability. I don't criticize the medalists who benefited from it, obviously most of all Centro, but the back-of-the-packers who worked so hard and went to the Olympic final to jog at a slow high school pace were a disgrace.

I just shot a 55 at my local putt-putt course. This is lower than any round ANY professional golfer has ever recorded. Tiger Woods should return all of his trophies and is an absolute disgrace to the game.

HS wrote:

comparing different comps wrote:

My son's JV football team scored 27 points in their last football game. This is more than the Broncos scored in the last Super Bowl. The Broncos should return their trophy.

^ in case anyone needed some perspective on how stupid the OP's post is this is a good comparison.

This "story" is now on the front page of ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/17535217/four-visually-impaired-paralympians-beat-olympic-gold-medal-1500m

itajuv10 wrote:

Please be respectful and open minded regarding their performance.

Sure, but recognize there's a lack of respect for Centro's performance here as well. Implying that anyone who's run faster than 3:50 is better than Centro's Olympic final race shows a lack of understanding of the sport and doesn't respect what Centro accomplished.

2 funny . . . wrote:

ritzback wrote:

OMG

Centro should return his medal. What a disgrace.

https://twitter.com/IPCAthletics/status/775336987167453188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

LOL . . . too funny. The U20 1500m race is tomorrow morning. Let's see how fast sub Mikey can go. 3:57.58 miler already at age 19. Faster than Olympic Champion Centro managed until age 22. Mikey's running future looks bright.

German Fernandez ran 3:55 indoor mile at an even younger age. Look how that turned out.

BigTimeRetiredCoach wrote:

This "story" is now on the front page of ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/17535217/four-visually-impaired-paralympians-beat-olympic-gold-medal-1500m

There are a ton of these now. I'm quite embarrassed for the supposed sports journalists who put them together. Especially someone who writes for ESPN.

I didn't think the circumstances of a championship race would be lost on that many people supposedly knowledgeable about sports.

Fine compare the two races to lift up the Paralympians performances, but insinuating that they could actually beat any of the athletes in the Olympic 1500M Final is just back woods stupid.

This is not to take anything away from the Paralympians. The performances have been incredibly inspirational and they deserve to be celebrated.

Seyta wrote:

2 funny . . . wrote:

LOL . . . too funny. The U20 1500m race is tomorrow morning. Let's see how fast sub Mikey can go. 3:57.58 miler already at age 19. Faster than Olympic Champion Centro managed until age 22. Mikey's running future looks bright.

German Fernandez ran 3:55 indoor mile at an even younger age. Look how that turned out.

Oh, Centro fanboy, what magic sauce is your little boy taking to avoid Fernandez Syndrome, which seemingly affects every young runner that ever was ... except your hero child Centro.

Circumstance wrote:

I have posted under more than a dozen names trolling these runners who DARED to run faster than my hero Centro. I also hate these special needs runners. They are cheaters.

^ This

*Visually impaired.

[quote]Shooter McShoot wrote:

I just shot a 55 at my local putt-putt course. This is lower than any round ANY professional golfer has ever recorded. Tiger Woods should return all of his trophies and is an absolute disgrace to the game.[quote]

When I was 17, I shot a legitimate 32 (no mulligans/gimmies) on a local par 3, 9 hole course (+5 for the round). Ernie Els once went +5 on one hole at the Masters. Guess this means I am better than a professional golfer.

I have beaten Gabe Jennings and David Torrence in 1500M/Mile races. I should be in the Olympics.

what a disgrace? why because someone with a non-critical-to-running disability runs faster? are all people with a disability automatically worse at whatever they choose to do in your opinion? you are a disgrace!!

regarding the race, don't you guys think the Ethiopian could have won? He was ahead and then gave up to make sure he would have his X-salute at the finishing line. guess this is going to be the new go-to-strategy for ethiopian athletes to get out of there and be accepted into the US.

Shooter McShoot wrote:

I just shot a 55 at my local putt-putt course. This is lower than any round ANY professional golfer has ever recorded. Tiger Woods should return all of his trophies and is an absolute disgrace to the game.

HS wrote:

^ in case anyone needed some perspective on how stupid the OP's post is this is a good comparison.

Points vs Broncos is different than points vs a HS team.

Your crappy course is easy.

230 is 230 seconds, everywhere, and it is pathetic.

ShooterMacGyver wrote:

[quote]Shooter McShoot wrote:

I just shot a 55 at my local putt-putt course. This is lower than any round ANY professional golfer has ever recorded. Tiger Woods should return all of his trophies and is an absolute disgrace to the game.[quote]

When I was 17, I shot a legitimate 32 (no mulligans/gimmies) on a local par 3, 9 hole course (+5 for the round). Ernie Els once went +5 on one hole at the Masters. Guess this means I am better than a professional golfer.

Do you guys honestly not see how your argument fails?

Oh, Centro fanboy, what magic sauce is your little boy taking to avoid Fernandez Syndrome, which seemingly affects every young runner that ever was ... except your hero child Centro.

Why can't Centro be clean? He's the son of an Olympian so he has great genetics. His senior year of college he proved himself to be a master tactician. Remember his surprise bronze at Worlds that year? If a guy wins bronze at age 21/22 while being a college student then winning gold a few years later as a pro is completely reasonable. It's not like he ran 3:26 or something outlandish. He was in a slow race where everyone had a chance to win and he happened to be at the front when the kicking started. Again, entirely reasonable that he could win.

As for Brannigan he's one of our top guys and I wish him the best, but 3:57 at age 19 doesn't guarantee anything. If you follow the sport you know this. That said - good luck Mike and go get 'em.

Their argument makes perfect sense. The writer's of the articles are essentially saying the four Paralympians could have won the Olympic final because they ran a faster time for 1500M while completely disregarding the circumstances of each race and the fact championship races are not at all about time.

It really isn't all that different from one of the above people saying I have shot a better round of golf/scored better on a hole than a professional golfer therefore I should be professional. Both are throwing all circumstance and competitive scenario out the window and comparing two things that are not at all the same.

ritzback wrote:

OMG

Centro should return his medal. What a disgrace.

https://twitter.com/IPCAthletics/status/775336987167453188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Nope. The others ran slower. That's why they call it a race. Silly of the others? Yes. Centro needs to return medal? No. Disgrace? Those who ran even slower. They all had a right to pass, but not the nerve.