It would only work if he was given a bye to the finals or semi finals of each race.
He’ll never get to match Phelps’ totals unless they introduce the backwards 100m, the sideways 100m, the one legged 100m, the holding your breath 100m, the skipping 100m, the blindfolded 100m, the duck-walk 100m, the bear-walk 100m, the forwards crab-walk 100m, the backwards crab-walk 100m, the walk on your hands 100m, and the 100m medley, which consists of doing 10m of nine of the preceding variations (and the freestyle 100m of course).
Originally Posted by rainy.here
It would only work if he was given a bye to the finals or semi finals of each race.
He’ll never get to match Phelps’ totals unless they introduce the backwards 100m, the sideways 100m, the one legged 100m, the holding your breath 100m, the skipping 100m, the blindfolded 100m, the duck-walk 100m, the bear-walk 100m, the forwards crab-walk 100m, the backwards crab-walk 100m, the walk on your hands 100m, and the 100m medley, which consists of doing 10m of nine of the preceding variations (and the freestyle 100m of course).
Not to mention the 4X50m relay, the 4X75m relay, the 4X80m relay, the 4X150m relay, and 4X200m relay in addition to the 4X1. And of course we need the medley versions of those relays with backward running and sidewards running combined with forward running.
The number of Phelps’ medals that are really just for relays is amazing.
This and the other posts referencing the multitude of sprint variations that would need to be created in order to match Phelp’s accolades only brings to the surface the challenge of comparing, for example, Phelps’ and Bolts’ Olympic accomplishments.
I suspect some type of algorithm exists that allows for such a comparison; similar to the way that various single event T&F athletes are compared against multi-event T&F athletes on the points scale.
Given that the title of this thread concerns the limits of HUMAN performance, the effect of technology on the swimming WRs and Olympic medals should be factored in. The effects of technology such as the Speedo suit seem to have an effect that is so great (and not available to everyone) that FINA is trying to come up with methods to rein them in.
Obviously Asafa’s flywire shoes didn’t keep Usain from blowing him away; In swimming, if you’re not a Speedo athlete, it’s not that simple, at least from what I’ve read.
There are other suits available that are comparable, if not superior to, the Speedo suit. The suits do make a HUGE impact, but at the elite level, all have access. His accomplishments should not be attributed to the suit. The times yes, but not the relative placings.
However, there are issues with availability at the collegiate level, and unfortunately, this does impact placings at major conference championships, both individually and as a team.
To keep things in perspective, Ben Johnson was 5’9"-5’10"? Bolt is 6’5". The already blatent physical differences between them makes you wonder what advantages Bolt would retain whether the technology today is better or not. If Bolt was just tall, and nothing else then his physical stature wouldn’t matter. But he clearly brings more to the table than that.
Also Jamaica wasn’t/isn’t dominating sprinting. You’ve let yourself get caught up in the hype surrounding the U.S. not knowing how to react when they lose a couple events. The U.S. won or placed in the top 3 in every sprint/hurdles. The U.S. didn’t win the 4x1’s, but they won both 4x4’s. Jamaica placed 3rd & 8th.
Jamaica had nothing to do with Torri flinching in the blocks. Jamaica had nothing to do with the U.S. dropping the baton’s. The 4x1 record that Jamaica broke, should have been broken 2-3 times already by 3 different U.S. teams in the past 10 years.
Asafa has been fast for the past 4-5 years. Nothing new. Nesta Carter, Michael Frater? How much better did they get than Walter Dix, Richard Thompson, Darvis Patton, Travis Padgett, etc. Get my point?
If more people stopped being so sterotypical, there would be more athletes over 6’2" running the 100m. It’s ok for a tall athlete to have an amazing start. Instead we have them all being shoved into the 400m because that’s what seems right.
Go back and look at the wonderful photo KK created:
We’re never going to know if Glen Mills had Bolt intentionally hold back at the start a la John Smith, but notice that, while Bolt ran a decent start, he did NOT blow everybody away at the start: It was the acceleration and particularly the MaxV that followed.
Bolt was doing short-long and made a commitment to weight training in the offseason. The large amount of power/accel training that Franno uses speaks for itself; The same thing applies to Linford.
In my mind, these are the things that you have to do if you are a taller sprinter: more power work and not so much l-s type overdistance.
Also Jamaica wasn’t/isn’t dominating sprinting. You’ve let yourself get caught up in the hype surrounding the U.S. not knowing how to react when they lose a couple events. The U.S. won or placed in the top 3 in every sprint/hurdles. The U.S. didn’t win the 4x1’s, but they won both 4x4’s. Jamaica placed 3rd & 8th.
Jamaica had nothing to do with Torri flinching in the blocks. Jamaica had nothing to do with the U.S. dropping the baton’s. The 4x1 record that Jamaica broke, should have been broken 2-3 times already by 3 different U.S. teams in the past 10 years.
Asafa has been fast for the past 4-5 years. Nothing new. Nesta Carter, Michael Frater? How much better did they get than Walter Dix, Richard Thompson, Darvis Patton, Travis Padgett, etc. Get my point?
Take a look at Jamaica’s success in all olympic events. On that page is listed all the medals they have ever won. Get to the bottom and where before they won barely any medals and were lucky to win more than 2 in a single games and the medals they won were mostly bronze with a few silvers and the occasional gold, at the bottom you find in the 2008 Beijing games:
5 golds
3 silvers
6 bronze (relay)
To say that either
a Jamaica isn’t dominating the Sprint events
or that
b)This hasn’t basically come out of nowhere is frankly stupid.
If more people stopped being so sterotypical, there would be more athletes over 6’2" running the 100m. It’s ok for a tall athlete to have an amazing start. Instead we have them all being shoved into the 400m because that’s what seems right.
I don’t know about this, there have been lots of good tall runners. In my opinion whatever you lose in the start with height you gain in your top speed and vica versa. The effect of height really cancels out either way.
