Why hate on the racewalkers?(frontpage)

1. TMoney: Something that indeed requires hard work and training may still be a joke. Learning to masturbate with one's hands tied behind one's back would be one such joke; racewalking, in the minds of many, is another.

2. "get over it" and similar whiners: Criticism, however harsh, does not imply jealousy. Pretending it does is an old and tired Internet trick. My stated distaste for country music doesn't mean I secretly covet tight jeans, ugly hats, queer boots, a failed marriage or two, sex with relatives, and a low IQ; it simply means I hate country music. In a similar spirit, many abhor racewalking for its sheer foolishness.

Carry on.

If there was an international racewalk event in my garden I'd draw the curtains. Seriously, I wouldn't cross the road to watch racewalking. What is the point? You may as well have a 20K hopping race or a running backwards 100m. Get rid of it from the championship Track & Field and bring in a 3000m race.

Classic racers can legally throw in a couple of semi-skates around turns (step turns), but if they blatently skate, they are out of there.

I have a ski friend who also happened to hold a few AR's, and made the WC's in race walking. He was a good athlete, and trained very hard. But he admitted that pretty much everyone broke the "no run" rule at times, and it was just a matter of not getting caught. That is an issue with race walking.

I'm a bit surprised by this racewalking talk - especially how it degrades the sport of track and field.

I can kind of see the Gallowalking stuff as degrading the sport (though I'm not as hard core there as WEJO and some of you other people).

BUT...racewalking?

Most people I know - both runners and non runners - think of racewalking as a joke. No one equates that with track and field.

Racewalking as a threat to track and field is as big a joke as Martin Franklin or Chandra Bozelko or Melissa Rivers, or the show Are You Hot?

I don't think racewalking is a threat to track and field, I just think it's a joke that's had its day. I'm not going to lose sleep over the fact that it's an Olympic event, but if the topic comes up, then I'm happy to add my view.

When I leave work later, I'm going to drive home slowly as fast as I can.

Am sorry to hear wejo doesn't dig race walking, having watched him at x-c nats this past week it looked like he was a big fan of the sport.

bmt,

Holy Crap man what a slam. I guess you can easily run 28:10 and 2:18. I guess Paula called you first for an escort and then just settled for WEJO.

Not telling WEJO what to do, but man if this was my site, I'd ban your ass.

What if the IAAF dropped racewalking from the list of events it governs (USATF and the other national federations would likely follow suit). Could racewalking make it on it's own?

If walking is primarily a road event (and many shopping malls too), why do we put it under the track and field genre? I agree with the theory of the Olympics as a battle of the countries: Bigger. Stronger. Faster.

Racewalking is a dying event that will never have a legitmate place in the NCAA...Race walkers, say your prayers to the 10% of those retarded USATF members. That organization and the track meets they put on are a joke in themselves. Racewalking and Marathons have their place in Track in Field. Its called NAIA.

Also, saying that Racewalking is bigger than Soccer in Mexico has got to be one of the most rediculous things I have EVER heard.

Are you kidding me? or are you kidding yourself?

No flunkpole I can't run those times, I also don't go around bagging on others sports either. While we are at it did you run 28:10 or 2:18 or do you just wish to exist based on the times of others. Only an ass like yourself would ban someone for slamming on them when thay just did the same thing to someone else. Go run your own time and then talk to me.

I dont think we should make judgement on something that alot of us dont understand.

The big problem I have is the ambiguity already mentioned. We saw this last Olympics with figure skating judges. At least in figure skating all the judges watch every athlete and there is some chance that their differences in opinion and mistakes might cancel each other out. Racewalking, hell, most of the people have NO judge watching them the majority of the time, from what I've seen. It seems like it would be fairly easy to cheat multiple times every race. To get even the amount of judge oversight of skating, you would need a camera on every racer and review the whole tape for each after the race. If they can't standardize it, it will always be the joke I think it is.

Oh, and you do wax both freestyle and classic skis. It's actually a highly technical aspect of the sport. Getting your wax right for the weather/snow is almost more important than training well. Bad waxing = Gold to near last.

Does anyone know a race walker who is also good runner? (Most race walkers in my area of the US are older ladies with orthopedic problems.)Example, a successful race walker who can run a marathon in 2:30-2:50 let's say. I just pose that question out of curiousity. I've always likened race walking to ultramarathoning (Question to an ultramarathon runner:"Why do you run ultras? THe typical answer: "Because I dont have to go fast"). And no, I'm not bashing ultras though I dont see the whole point of them.

Not sure of his marathon PR but 20 km Oly walker Gary Morgan from MI has run under 3:00.

max power wrote:

Does anyone know a race walker who is also good runner?

Michelle Rohl (3 time Olympian) has run in the mid 2:40's on 3 months training to qualify for the OT and ran 4:15ish for the 1500 in college.

Robyn Stevens (4 time Jr Nat Champ) runs high 17's for 5km XC.

Amber Antonia has run 5000 at Penn and been in top 10 and is NAIA XC All-American.

Mike Tarantino ran 4:17 mile in HS.

.....

I have never ever seen a racewalking event in which the competitors were not blatantly cheating. I'm not engaging in hyperbole here. At one track meet, I pointed out that one of the venerable established racewalkers was clearly just running with an odd stifflegged form, and several people told me "ssh, don't say anything, he gets really upset if you point that out."

Racewalking doesn't belong in the Olympics and it doesn't deserve to be taken seriously. Sorry. I am not one to defame other athletes, but this is preposterous.

Proper perspective wrote:

I have never ever seen a racewalking event in which the competitors were not blatantly cheating.

How many, and at what level of competition, have you seen? My guess is one track meet.

Then you ask someone of equal ignorance about the event for commentary? That opinion will certain enlighten the masses. You probably think Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh are geniuses and present unbiased news coverage.

MJR-

I am a teammate of Mike Tarantino and can assure you that he is not a 4:17 miler. He ran a 4:26 1600 in High School and a 4:11 1500 2 weekends ago. Also some of your other stats are wrong, but I don't want to get into this racewalking debate too much.

Weldon,

You can pretend you aren't hating it, but you might consider that you'll never master running before you master walking, nor will you master walking until you have mastered standing.