The final three rigmarole is over

I have already commented on the unfair, counterproductive and plain stupid rule of final 3 that was introduced in the Diamond League competitions two years ago, supposedly in order to make the competitions more exciting.

The final 3 rule meant that after five rounds only the leading three horizontal jumpers or throwers would get a sixth attempt, with the athlete who was best in that final round being proclaimed the winner, even if his performance did not exceed ones set earlier in the competition. 

One cannot think of anything stupider than this, short of deciding the winner by drawing lots. Quite expectedly the vast majority of athletes was against that rule. Still World Athletics persisted and applied this crazy rule to all the 2020 and 2021 Diamond League meetings. Fortunately they refrained from pushing for this rule to apply to the Olympics. As for the World Championships, luckily they were postponed, due to the epidemic.

The official justification was that it would make the events more attractive. Poppycock!

After the outcry (both from athletes and the public) World Athletics decided to review the situation. Here are the official rules for the new format.

Rounds 1-3

Each competition with a ‘final 3’ element is seeded ahead of the event commencing. The best throwers/jumpers are seeded to perform at the start of each round.

After round 3

The order of the eight remaining athletes is re-drawn with the best performing athletes throwing/jumping at the start of the next two rounds (rounds 4 and 5).

After round 5

The top three athletes get one additional attempt each. The order of the three remaining athletes is redrawn so that the best-placed athlete after round five goes first in the ‘final 3’, the second-placed athlete after round five goes second, and the third-placed athlete after round five goes third.

It is estimated that there will be a two-minute break from the end of round five to the start of the final 3.

Any ‘live’ field and track events will be stopped for the duration of a ‘final 3’ competition. 

To put it in a nutshell, only the first three will be allowed a 6th attempt and the best athlete will go first instead of last, which was the standard practice till now. And in the end the winner will be the one with the best performance during the whole event.  

Which means, more or less, that we are back to what was the standard before, with a few token changes for the World Athletics hierarchy not to lose face. 

Still, sports historians, perusing old results, will have trouble (unless they know precisely what was happening) to understand how an athlete with 8.09 m was first and one with 8.13 m was second.

Good riddance modern pentathlon

Perhaps I am celebrating too early. The final decision will not be taken before next year, and we have seen pentathlon evading eviction already in 2013, so... But I cannot refrain from rejoicing reading the news that modern pentathlon is among the three sports which are about to lose a spot in the 2028 Olympics.

But let us start at the beginning. The term modern in the pentathlon is a pure marketing term, invented by none other than our beloved baron, in order to promulgate a 19th century (and perhaps earlier) discipline and make it part of the 20th (and, alas, also 21st) century Olympics. I wrote about this quite some time ago and I made clear that the modern pentathlon is a sport that does not have its place in the olympic program. 

Perhaps as a tribute to de Coubertin they could add tricycle riding to the modern pentathlon

In 2013 the IOC was looking for ways to reduce the program of the Olympics and everybody was convinced that the discipline to bear the consequences would be the modern pentathlon. (The days when Brundage proposed to remove the women's discipline as a way to slim down the program are fortunately long past). But people who were predicting the demise of the modern pentathlon were not counting with the presence of Juan Antonio Samaranch junior (the son of the late marqués). Samaranch is the vice-president of the "Union Internationale du Pentathlon Moderne" (UIPM) and a member of the IOC since 2001. So in February 2013 it was decided that wrestling was the discipline to be removed, despite the fact that it is one of the disciplines present in the olympic program since the ancient times. Fortunately for wrestling, the decision was reversed in September of the same year but the modern pentathlon was scot-free. 

A few weeks ago the IOC decided that they would be removing boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon from the 2028 program, in order to make way for skateboarding, surfing, and sports climbing. (I will not discuss here the IOC tendency to choose disciplines that appeal to younger audiences to the point of making breakdancing an olympic discipline. I find that, were this to continue, the Olympic Games will lose the last strands of credibility they possess). Concerning boxing and weightlifting, the IOC decision has to do with well-known issues of corruption and doping, leadership matters aggravating the situation.

The horse punching moment

Modern pentathlon is a totally different story. As I pointed out above it is represented in the IOC by the heir of an IOC president. So the discipline would have been well protected had it not been for the incident in Tokyo during the equestrian event. In this event, the athletes have just 20 minutes to familiarise themselves with a horse they have never ridden. The german athlete was assigned a really difficult horse. It cleared just four fences before crashing into the fifth and then repeatedly refused to jump and, in fact, it had done the same earlier with another competitor. Her coach shouted at her to "really hit" the horse and she punched it herself. The coach was expelled from the Olympics and the UIPM decided to remove the equestrian event from the pentathlon program. 

Curiously the UIPM announced that the obvious choice for the 5th discipline, cycling, was ruled out. Well, if they asked my opinion I would say that the best choice is an obstacle course, but that would necessitate quite some original thinking on behalf of the UIPM mandarins. But then, if they wished to have a really modern pentathlon, they would have to replace fencing as well. Perhaps cycling, obstacle course, swimming, target shooting, and cross-country-running (the last two combined in a biathlon-like event) would redeem the modern pentathlon to me.

So will the modern pentathlon disappear from the Olympics (whereupon it will become marginalised and soon extinct)? Let us not rejoice too fast. The final decision will not be taken before the 2023 IOC annual meeting. And even then an unfavourable decision can be overturned later. J.A. Samaranch will look after this. For the time being, let us cross our fingers and hope that this deCoubertenian relic is soon tossed onto the garbage heap of history.

The WA athlete of the year etc. awards

World Athletics announced their 2020 awards and as is becoming customary by now I missed the women winner. Over the last five years (since I am publishing my year's best list) only once have I correctly predicted the female winner. Well, at least I am doing a good job predicting the male one.

So this year's ceremony crowned E. Thompson-Herah and K. Warholm. I had bet 60 to 40 in favour of S. McLaughlin versus Thompson but the World Athletics panel decided otherwise. Mind you, Thompson is an excellent choice: she was the only one who could have beaten McLaughlin but still I am favouring the latter. K. Warholm was my choice, with only R. Crouser being able to challenge him. Both dominated their discipline and broke a work record but I guess Warholm's is more impressive, dipping under the 46 s barrier, while Crouser's record above 23.37 m was, well, incremental.

There was no doubt whatsoever concerning the rising stars. Athing Mu

and Erriyon Knighton

were indisputably above the competition.

There was also no doubt as to who would win the photograph of the year award. You can see the winning photo of Ryan Pierse in a previous post of mine.

What I did particularly like was the Inspiration Award shared by the two high jump winners M. Barshim and G. Tamberi.

Their decision to share the gold medal was a unique act of respect, friendship and sportsmanship. I had a special mention of them in my year's best list and I am particularly happy that World Athletics decided to reward them. 

Women's athletics after WWII (part 6 of "the long and arduous road of women to the Olympics")

The first post-war European athletics championships took place in Norway in 1946. For the first time the women's competition was held alongside the men's one. The programme was the same as that of 1938 (100 m, 200 m, 80 m H, 4x100 m, HJ, SP, DT, JT) with the longest race being the 200 m. 

This eight-event programme was also adopted for the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics. In the 1950 Europeans a pentathlon (SP, HJ, 200 m, 80 m H, LJ) was added to the program. It had to wait till 1964 before making its olympic debut.

The fateful 800 m was introduced into the Europeans of 1954 and, after some further waiting, joined the Olympics in 1960. In some mysterious way the 400 m was still absent from the championships program: it made its european debut in 1958 and its olympic one only in 1964.

I have trouble understanding why Brundage

 did not like female throwers

Under the presidency of Brundage the evolution of women's events in the athletic olympic programme stagnated despite the enthusiasm for long distance running. I remember wondering about the absence of kenyan or ethiopian middle and long distance runners but, what could they do, given that the longest olympic distance was a mere 800 m.  Finally the 1500 m entered the olympic programme in 1972, along with the 100 m hurdles (which replaced the 80 m) and the 4x400 m relay. They were part of the european Championships since 1969. 

I have already written about the absurdity of the 100 m hurdles. Although women now had to run over 10 hurdles, the height of the latter was fixed with preconceived ideas about a feminine inadequacy. The hurdle height of 84 cm, instead of 91 cm that would have been logical, is again a decision based on the idea that women are "weak". And another proof of this state of mind among the people who were (are?) deciding (mainly men) is the inclusion of the 3000 m (instead of a 5000 m) in the programme of the Europeans, in 1971, and in that of the Olympics, in 1984. This is all the more absurd since the women's Marathon entered the olympic programme the very same year. And since we are talking about absurd decisions I should mention the most absurd of all, the heptathlon, introduced in 1982 in the Europeans and in 1984 in the Olympics (but I have written time and again on this matter). In 1984 made also its appearance in the olympic programme the 400 m hurdles, an event run in the Europeans since 1978. 

The case of the 3000 m is special since it is the only distance where a change in the Olympics, where it was replaced by the 5000 m, occurred before (1996) that in the Europeans (1998). But, to be fair, the change had already been introduced in the World Championships already in 1995. 

Before talking about the World Championships and their role in liberating athletics form the olympic tyranny it is important to mention the other changes taking place in the IOC. In 1979, the right of women to participate in sport was formally included in the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. And in 1981, almost a century after its creation, the IOC co-opted two women as members. One of them, Ms. F. Isava-Fonseca, went on to be elected, in 1990, on the IOC executive board. In 1995 the IOC established a Women and Sport Working Group the  task of which was to advise the Executive Board on matters of gender equality. Then in 1996 the Olympic Charter was amended to include, for the first time in history, an explicit reference the IOC’s role in advancing women in sport. The first World Conference on Women and Sport, organised by the IOC, took place the same year. And in 1997 A. DeFrantz, ex-olympic rower, became the first woman IOC Vice-President. In 2000 during the second IOC World Conference on women in sport the following resolution was adopted: “The Olympic Movement must reserve at least 20 per cent of decision-making positions for women within their structures by the end of 2005". And as of 2019 33 % IOC members are women. Moreover four women (circa 27 %) are members of the IOC Executive Board.

And just in case you are wondering about the participation of women in the Olympics here are two interesting graphics. The number of women events is growing and will reach a parity with that of men in the Paris, 2024, Olympics.

The same will, hopefully be true for the number of participants. Still, given the graphic below, I have some trouble believing that a 1500 people gap will be closed in just two Olympiads. Well, time will tell. 

In 1983, thanks to the chutzpah (yiddish for "audacity") of the IAAF president P. Nebiolo the world of athletics obtained its independence form the IOC. (The story of the election of P. Nebiolo at the presidency of the IAAF is a lesson in manipulation, but this is not the proper time to go about it). During his presidency, Nebiolo was accused of various things but I believe that his contribution to athletics, through the introduction of the World Championships, overshadows everything. 

The programme of the first World Championships included an, as complete as possible, women's program: 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 3000 m (replaced by 5000 m from 1995),  marathon, 100 m H, 400 m H, 4x100 m, 4x400 m, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and heptathlon. The 10000 m joined the programme of the Europeans in 1986, the World's in 1987 and the Olympics in 1988. (A 10 km race-walk was also introduced but, as you know, I do not care about race-walking events). Then it was the turn of triple jump (1993 in WC, 1994 in EC and 1996 in OG). The women's programme inched further towards parity with the men's one with the addition of pole vault and hammer throw  (1998 EC, 1999 WC and 2000 OG). (Around the same time the 10 km race-walk event became a 20 km one). Finally in 2005 the 3000 m steeple appeared in the women's programme of the World Championships, one year later in that of the Europeans, entering the Olympics in 2008. 

There was something missing all along: the 50 km race-walk (well, I didn't miss it). In 2017 World Athletics added the event to the championships followed by European Athletics in 2018. Fortunately the bid of WA to add the event to the Tokyo Olympics was rejected. This is the one event where I wouldn't lift a finger in support of its inclusion in the official programme. And, in fact, there a serious discussion about curtailing the race-walk olympic programme, men's and women's alike. 

At this point it is interesting to point out a particularity of the 2016 Europeans. Since the competition was held in the same year as the Olympics it was decided that the race-walk events would be dropped from the programme (both for men and women) and that a half- marathon would be held in lieu of the full distance. The formula seems to be the one adopted for the olympic years but, unfortunately, the 2020 championships were cancelled due to the epidemic. 

With this article I complete the cycle of "the road of women to the Olympics". It has been a long road and anything but an easy one. Women faced the unfair attitude of the men in power and had to fight for decades in order to get recognition. But, at long last, thanks to the changes in the 80s and the 90s, women are now where they should have been all along. The persons who tried to stifle their movement will figure in my next post: the Gallery of Shame. (And after that there will be two more "bonus tracks" to the series. Stay connected).

And a final word, by way of envoi. There is one remaining danger for women athletics and sports in general: gender issues. If we open the door to transgender men (and persons with Differences in Sexual Development) and allow them to compete with women in the name of some hypothetical equalitarianism by referring to misinterpreted human rights, whatever women have built with their efforts and sacrifices over a century will just go up in smoke.

The Photograph of the Year finalist and a World Athletics blunder

On November 16, on the World Athletics site, appeared an article with the finalist of the photograph of the year. It contained just three photos. The one by Ryan Pierse is the most original and will probably garner the prize. 

Mind you, the photo has received some serious post-treatment. A photo from the running jump competition area would initially look something like the one below.

Out of the three finalists the one I prefer is the one of Tkachuk at the start of the 400 m hurdles semi-final under the torrential rain. But of course this has also to do with the really unique conditions under which that race was run. 

However the article was frustrating since we did not have access any other photos among the submitted ones. And then on November 23 the situation became clear: WA had put the cart before the horse. They had announced the finalists before the shortlisted ones. The latter (a list of 25) appeared on the 23rd and included some really nice photos like the one of T. Davis in the long jump sand pit

or the one below where a pole vault competitor is reflected in a water puddle. 

(Remember, the women's pole vault qualifiers were held under the same pouring rain as the 400 m hurdles and the women's discus).

Fortunately WA realised their blunder and gave us access to this nice collection of photos (not all of them taken during the Olympics, although the finalists are).

The same day the finalists of the Male and Female World Athlete of the Year 2021 were also announced. No big surprises there. Here are the lists, for men

J. Cheptegei
R. Crouser
A. Duplantis
E. Kipchoge
K. Warholm

and for women,

S. Hassan
F. Kipyegon
S. McLaughlin
Y. Rojas
E. Thompson-Herah

I have only a minor remark on the men's list: I would have included Warner in place of Cheptegei, but, given that neither has serious hopes for the title, this is not really important.

For the women's list I have trouble understanding the absence of P. Jepchirchir who, after having won the Olympic Marathon, went on to win the New York one, an unprecedented feat. And of course, what I consider a major injustice is the systematic shunning of A. Wlodarczyk. It's a mystery to me why World Athletics is systematically snubbing the best female hammer thrower of all times.

Now that the finalists lists are out, it's time to make predictions for the winners of the title. Given that Duplantis won last year and Kipchoge has already won twice, I think that the only serious male candidates are Crouser and Warholm. I would split the probabilities 40 to 60 % in favour of Warholm. In the case of women, Rojas has won last year and I don't believe that either Hassan or Kipyegon have serious hopes. So the title will be decided among McLaughlin and Thompson. And my bet is 60 to 40 % in favour of McLaughlin. Now we have to wait till next week for the answer.

World Athletics rising star nominees.

This year World Athletics will not forget the younger athletes (as they did last year) and made clear that the Rising Stars of the year will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2021 on December 1st.

A list of five plus five nominees was published and I must say that I am perplexed. But let us start with the lists.

The men nominees are 

Sean Burrell
Erriyon Knighton
Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Tadese Worku
Sasha Zhoya

Knighton and Zhoya are part of my list (and I will risk a prediction, claiming that I expect Knighton to clinch the title). Among the remaining three only Burrell improved a world record. I still remember his fall in the US Trials where by doing a somersault he tried to get back into the race. (I should have included him in my rising star list). 

The women's list is the one that is problematic:

Keely Hodgkinson
Silja Kosonen
Christine Mboma
Athing Mu
Zerfe Wondemagegn

First I do not understand why Mu is present in Athlete of the Year and Rising Star lists. This is probably the first time an athlete appears in both lists. But at least her presence in the "grown-ups" list doesn't jeopardise her nomination as rising star.

Now, why on earth does Ch. Mboma appear in the list? I understand that WA is pretending to play fair as far as DSD athletes are concerned. After all C. Semenya did appear in an Athlete of the Year nominee list. But in the long run hyperandrogenic athletes are going to wreak havoc upon women's athletics and so encouraging them by a selection in the year's best list is uncalled for. (And just in case you wonder, I would have included Brianna Williams instead of Mboma in my top five list, and I would have also included Kosonen). 

And I will never understand why Wondemagegn was selected pushing out F. Bol. The former was a simple olympic finalist while Bol won bronze, and her continental record was better than the world record at the beginning of the season. Was it just a memory lapse or a bout of stupidity of World Athletics? I don't know whichever is worse.

WA, fix the throwing surfaces

The special weather conditions during the Tokyo Olympics put the finger on a problem that exists since time immemorial in athletics and which has been treated with the utmost indifference by the instances of World Athletics, that of throwing surfaces. But let's start with the rules. Here is what they say on the throwing surfaces.

The interior of the circle may be constructed of concrete, asphalt or some other firm but not slippery material.

Yes, you read correctly, that's all there is. Which means that if a grass ring, like the one used in the Highland Games (you can see such a throwing area in my post on stone throw), is not slippery then it could be acceptable for the World Championships throwing competitions.

Initially the throwing circles were just beaten earth and the javelin runway perhaps cinder. Then, probably after WWII, concrete throwing circles became the standard. With the introduction of tartan synthetic tracks the javelin runway followed course. And that's it. No further guidance has been issued by World Athletics. Which means that the variation in the adhesion of the circles can be enormous and still abide with the "non slippery" prescription. And given that the athletes have to declare in advance which kind of shoes they will be using, they do not have the luxury to adapt their choice of shoes to the circle surface (unless they happen to have prior knowledge, which is rarely the case). All this led to the Tokyo debacle. 

The women's discus competition was held under pouring rain. As a result the circle became so slippery that more than one thrower ended up on their back. In the end the judges had to interrupt the competition waiting for the rain to abate. Why on earth can't we have self-draining throwing circles?

In the case of men's javelin the situation was even worse. Using a runway of the same quality as the one used for the track is really absurd. We saw many athletes unable to brake sufficiently in order to make a correct throw. J. Vetter, the best javelin thrower in the world today, barely managed to qualify for the final and went on to miss not only a medal but even a place among the first eight finalists. 

The organisers had to cool (!) the runway with ice before the event, hoping that this would provide a better grip. To no avail.

It is high time World Athletics provided rules concerning the surface of the throwing circles and of the javelin runway. 

Women's athletics up to WWII (part 5 of "the long and arduous road of women to the Olympics")

Women have been active in athletics since the most remote past. In a post devoted to women athletics in Ancient Greece I dispelled the myth that women were banned from sports. They even had their own Olympics, the Herean Games. 

But with the decline and the subsequent demise of the Olympic Games and the arrival of the  Middle Ages women's athletics, and sports in general, entered a (very) long period of total absence. In fact the first reference to a modern sportwoman, is that to Mary, Queen of Scots, who lived in the 16 century and was known to be an avid golfer. It is sad that the Renaissance did nothing to change the situation as far as women physical activities were concerned. There were even pseudo-scientific theories "explaining" the situation. Using the writings of Aristotle (who unfortunately wrote treatises on many subjects he did not really master) medical authorities declared that physical actvity would render the women infertile. According to those "authorities" women had a "limited amount of energy" and already the monthly hormonal expenditure was using most of it. Thus the women belonging to the affluent class should refrain from exerting themselves: their female servants were doing all the hard work for them (even after the abolishment of slavery). A consequence of the "limited energy" argument was that women should not spend too much time in studies. The anti-education fertility argument was based on the observation that women who had graduated from colleges had a tendency to have fewer children. Which was totally natural since, having been educated, they had professional careers which were incompatible with too large families. And which led President Roosvelt to accuse the families sending their daughters to college to conspire to commit "race suicide".

Female pedestrian event

The first mention of an organised women's athletics activity in the timeline of women's sports appears in 1882 when the YWCA in Boston organised athletic games for women. However no details whatsoever appear to be exist concerning this event. But I believe that this historical account focuses mainly on amateur activities, neglecting all the 19th century's pedestrianism frenzy where the participants (male or female) were professional. It is perhaps the echos of the pedestriennes' exploits (and monetary profits) that motivated S. Revithi to run the Athens Marathon in 1896.

Vassar Field Day

The first attested women athletics competition was the famous Vassar College Field Day of 1895. The founder of the college, M. Vassar believed that physical activity brought balance to the students' lives and thus made the daily participation in some sort of physical activity mandatory. Still, competition was not a priority and a good 30 years elapsed from the college's creation to the organisation of the first field day.  Seventeen girls took part, participating in the five events of the programme: 100 yd, long jump, high jump, 120 yd hurdles and 220 yd. (It is funny that the Vassar website, while talking about five events, lists only four, omitting the hurdles. Fortunately Quercetani is his Storia dell'Atletica Mondiale, gives all the details, including the performances of the winners). The success of this organisation ensured the survival of the field day for the next forty years. By 1897 precise rules were introduced, regulating the competition. On this occasion R. Reed broke the world long jump record with 4.14 m (although there exists no official confirmation of this). By the 10th field day the Vassar competition was attracting the attention of the local newspapers. The last Vassar field day was held in 1937. The disappearance of this traditional competition had a practical reason: as of 1938 Vassar College did no longer have a track. So the field day became a sports day and athletics lost the stage.

The experience of Vassar College was not unique. Soon women started participating in athletics but their activities did not obtain offical recognition. Things did change thanks to the struggles of A. Milliat. I wrote a long post telling this story of the woman who, almost single-handedly, brought women athletics to the Olympics. In 1919 Milliat petitioned the IOC for the inclusion of women's athletics events in the 1924, Paris, Olympiad. As was to be expected, they refused. Milliat then set out to organise the Women's Olympiad and founded the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) which would oversee international women's sporting events. 

Mary Lines

The first women's Olympiad took place in Monte Carlo with a hundred participants representing five nations. The program comprised 10 events: 60 m, 250 m, 800 m, 65 m hurdles, 4x75 m relay, 4x175 m relay, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put. The last two events were two-handed competitions the result being obtained through the addition of the best marks obtained with right-handed and left-handed throws. The star of the games was Mary Lines who won the 60 m, 250 m and long jump and finished second in the 800 m. She was to shine in the next year's Olympiad as well winning the 250 m and long jump finishing second in the 60 m. She would also participate in the 1923 and 1924 editions finishings second in the 800 in the former and first in the 250 m, 120 yd hurdles and long jump in the latter. 

The 1922 edition of the Women's Olympiad saw the addition of a pentathlon in the program (60 m, 300 m, high jump, javelin and shot put, both two-handed). The pentathlon would survive in the 1923 organisation only to disappear in the 1924. The Women's Olympiad marked a departure from the Monte Carlo organisations and was held in London (under the moniker Women's International and British Games). The Women's Amateur Athletic Association was founded just the previous year and the first British women's championships were held that same year. M. Lines was present winning four events, 100 yd, 440 yd, 120 yd hurdles and long jump. The organisation in Great Britain brought a change in the program with imperial distances appearing alongside metric ones. The programm thus comprised: 100 yd, 250 m, 1000 m, 120 yd hurdles, 1000 m walking, 4x110 yd relay, 4x220 yd relay, long jump, high jump, discus throw, shot put and javelin throw (the last two, two-handed). 

From the 1922 Monte Carlo Olympiad

Parallely to the Monte Carlo Olympiad, Milliat planned to organise the first Women's Olympic games in Paris in 1922. The IOC objected to the "olympic" title and after negociations it was agreed that 10 athletic events be included in the 1928 Olympics program. Milliat changed the title of the Paris games to Women's World Games and, as expected, the IOC did not keep their promise and included a women's program with just 5 events (100 m, 800 m, 4x100 m, high jump and discus) all the while making it clear that this was experimental(!). In fact this led to the only feminist boycott in the olympic history: the WAAA, being unhappy with the IOC defaulting on the promise of 10 events, decided to withdraw their participation in the 1928 Games.

Kinue Hitomi

The 1922 World Games saw 77 participants from 5 nations. For the first time a US team was present winning four gold medals. (In fact, the try-outs for the Games are considered as the first national US women's track meet. The first official Women's US championships were held the very next year). The program of the Games comprised 60 m, 100 yd, 300 m, 1000 m, 100 yd hurdles, 4x110 yd relay, high jump, long jump, standing long jump, shot put and javelin throw (two-handed). Given the attitude of the IOC, Milliat went ahead with the organisation of the World Games. The 1926 edition took place in Göteborg, the tournament opening with an olympic-style ceremony. The program was almost the same as that of 1922 with a 250 m replacing the 300 m and a 1000 m walking entering the program. The 1926 Games saw the arrival of one of the greatest names of the interwar women's athletics, Kinue Hitomi. She won the long jump (with a 5.50 m WR) and the standing one, placed second in the discus, third in the 100 yd, 5th in the 60 m and 6th in the 250 m. (K.  Hitomi's story is a particularly interesting, and alas very brief, one. It would be interesting to write about her one day). Göteborg was also the first appearance of the great discus champion H. Konopacka. She would go on and win the olympic title in 1928 (and also gold in the 1930 World Games).

The 1928 Olympics saw a great competition in the 100 m where the OR was broken several times and the WR equalled in the final. In the absence of the long jump in the program K. Hitomi opted for the 100 m, but exited in the semis. She then decided to run the 800 m (late entries were possible at that time) despite the fact that she hadn't run the distance before. In a memorable race she finished just behind L. Radtke, with a time better than the standing WR. The canadian sprinters took their revenge after their defeat in the 100 m by winning the 4x100 m relay. E. Catherwood broke the high jump WR and H. Konopacka did the same in the discus throw. The anti-feminist mafia did not like the success of the women and managed to cook up a 800-gate in order to curtail the women's aspirations at a program parity.

Milliat pursued her struggle organising the third World Games in Prague, in 1930. The program saw at long last the disappearance of imperial distances, standing jumps and two-handed throws. It comprised 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, 800 m, 80 m hurdles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and a triathlon(!). The events of the latter were 100 m, high jump and javelin throw. K. Hitomi was first in the long jump, second in the triathlon, and third in the 60 m and the javelin throw. She was the best all-around athlete of the world. (And let us not forget that at one time she held the WR for the triple jump). The sprint events in Prague were won by S. Walasiewicz. Quercetani writes: "Her masculine appearance gave rise to perplexity in some querters. Unfortunately, suspicions were confirmed in 1980, when she was shot dead. An autopsy revealed a situation certainly not compatible with women's sports".

In 1931 were organised in Florence the Olimpiadi della Grazia, an essentially european track and field event. The program saw the disappearance of the 800 m and the two relays were 3x100 m and 4x100 m(!). The 1932, Los Angeles, Olympics comprised one more event compared to the Amsterdam Games: 100 m,  80 m hurdles, 4x100 m, high jump, discus throw and javelin throw (but since the 800 m had exited the program, there were two new events, the hurdles and the javelin). Notice that the longest distance the women were competing on was the 100 m, while men were competing over the Marathon and the 50 km racewalk. The heroine of the 1932 Games was Mildred (Babe) Didrikson: she won the hurdles, the javelin throw and was second in the high jump (having being arbitrarily disqualified in the jump-off for the first place). To this date she is the only athlete having won olympic medals in running, jumping and throwing. 

In 1934 were celebrated in London the second British Empire Games (the Games survive to this day under the less pretentious name of Commonwealth Games). On this occasion a women's athletics competition was figuring for the first time in the programm with 100 yd, 220 yd, 880 yd, 80 m hurdles (yes, that's right, the distance was metric), high jump, long jump, javelin throw and two relays 110-220-110 yd and 220-110-220-110 yd. Gladys Lunn won both the 880 yd race and the javelin throw while Marjorie Clark won the hurdles and the high jump. In the same venue and right after the Empire Games took place the World Games. The program had been fleshed out consisting in no fewer than 12 events: 60 m, 100 m, 200 m, 800 m, 80 m hurdles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and a pentathlon (100 metres, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put). It was as close as one could get to a world championship with 19 nations present and 200 participants. Meanwhile the first European athletics championships took place in Torino and of course there was no women's program. 

Babe Didrikson (right)

The success of women's athletics was such that the IOC and IAAF instances could not ignore them any more. Thus, in 1936, after lengthy negotiations it was agreed that the FSFI would relinquish the control of the international women's athletic events to the IAAF. In return the IAAF would recognise the FSFI records, organise the fifth Women's World Games in 1938 and propose a complete programme of women's events for the Olympics. Only the first commitment was respected. The World Games of 1938 became a European championship as for the extended Olympic program, women had to wait for long, long years before obtaining a decent programme, let alone parity. The FSFI, having lost the control of women's athletics, lost also the financial support of the various governments, A. Milliat withdrew from the international scene and the organisation faded out.  

O. Valla and C. Testoni

Meanwhile in 1936 took place the 1936, Berlin, Olympic Games. Talking about the Nazi-organised Olympics is worth a separate article which I may (or not) write one day. The program was the same as that of Los Angeles. There were two women's world records in the Games. The German relay team broke the world record in the semis. The were the clear favourite for the gold medal but they fumbled the last exchange, dropped the baton and went our of the race. Ondina Valla equalled the 80 m hurdles WR in the semis and then went on to win a final where the first four were given the same (hand) time. The medalists and their order was determined on the basis of the automatic timing: nine thousands of a second separated the silver medal from the fourth place (and the unlucky C. Testoni who went on to win the Europeans two years later establishing a new world record). 

The last pre-WWII major organisation were the 1938 European Games. Once more the mistrust towards women's athletics manifested itself by having two distinct competitions: one for men in Paris and, two weeks later, that for women in Vienna. The program was now comprising 9 events: 100 m, 200 m, 80 m hudles, 4x100 m relay, high jump, long jump, shot put, discus throw and javelin throw. It would remain the same for all major championships till 1960. Notice that for the first time women's shot put was appearing in an official program. Up to that point it was banned from the Olympics since de Coubertin hated that event for women. The competition was dominated by german athletes competing under the nazi flag (their male teammates did the same in the men's competition). And one notices an appearance at a podium, with two bronze medals in the 100 and 200 m of Fanny Koen. (She had participated in the Berlin Olympics, finishing 5th in the high jump and again 5th in the 4x100 relay). By 1938 F. Koen had ran her first world record with 11.0 s in the 100 yd. She married J. Blankers in 1940 and from then onwards she was going to be known as F. Blankers-Koen. And she went on to dominate the post-war women's athletics, known as "de vliegende huisvrouw" (the flying housewife).

When I set out to write this post I thought that I could cover the history of women's athletics from ostracism to parity in one article. And then I discovered that there was so much to tell. The history of women's athletics is incredibly rich. So, after having written a very long post I barely arrived at the end of the 30s. It is clear that I have to stop somewhere and this is probably the best point. In a future post I will write about what happened after the war but by that time women's athletics had only to fight for parity and not for their very existence anymore. 

The World Athletics list of year's best athletes is here

World Athletics has published the list of the top-10 athletes of the year. 

Here is the list of the selected male athletes:

Joshua Cheptegei
Ryan Crouser
Mondo Duplantis
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Eliud Kipchoge
Pedro Pichardo
Daniel Stahl
Miltiadis Tentoglou
Damian Warner
Karsten Warholm

If you compare the list to mine you'll observe that they coincide at 80 %. The two differences are Pichardo and Stahl. I had included DeGrasse and Vetter, but the choice of Pichardo and Stahl is equally excellent. Pichardo had a great season, missing barely the 18 m barrier. Stahl also dominated his discipline and had a 71+ year's best (plus one other throw over 70 m). They could have made my list.

The list of the top female athletes of the year is:

Valarie Allman
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn
Sifan Hassan
Faith Kipyegon
Mariya Lasitskene
Sydney McLaughlin
Shaunae Miller-Uibo
Athing Mu
Yulimar Rojas
Elaine Thompson-Herah

Again there is a 80 % overlap between my list and that of WA. And in fact the two athletes missing from my list are somehow there: Miller-Uibo appears in the honourable mentions, while I have reserved Mu for the rising star list. (It would be a pity if Mu missed the rising star distinction having made the "senior" list).

The first name from my list missing in the WA one is Jepchrichir. Her victory in the olympic marathon should have sufficed for a place in the list. 

The shocking omission is that of Wlodarczyk. Once more World athletics is ignoring her. This is  something I cannot understand. Wlodarczyk has accomplished this year a unique feat with a third olympic gold in a row. She was nominated athlete of the year by Track and Field News both in 2014 and 2016. She made the top of my year's best list in 2017. I have trouble understanding why World Athletics is systematically ignoring her. It's a blatant injustice.

The new blog of Carles Baronet

Those who follow my blog have noticed several references to Carles Baronet, an expert Catalan athletics statistician. I have first found his blog Trackinsun when following P. Larsson's site of all-time Track and Field performances. Trackinsun was giving athletics results, in almost real time from all over the world. I referred again to Trackinsun when I announced that Carles Baronet had decided to change the format of his publication opting for a weekly newsletter. And again when he was associated to the site Somos Atletismo where he was responsible for the performance statistics part.

Well things have evolved since those posts. During this winter Trackinsun was put on hold, replaced by the weekly newsletters (very detailed, a fortune for the fans of athletics). Unfortunately Somos Atletismo folded and while the blog still exists it is not updated anymore. Trackinsun in now just a place-holder without content. (Which is a pity since the blog contained 10 years' results, a real treasure trove). 

And recently Carles announced to the subscribers of the newsletter that the formula will be changing again next year. The newsletter will disappear and a new blog will make (in fact it has already made) its appearance. It has the unimaginative name of Track and Field results but this time the name of the author appears in the title. As always with Carles the site has an incredible breadth of results, literally from all over the world. So, if you are interested, even a little, in the statistics of athletics I suggest that you start following Carles Baronet's new blog. 

My choice for the year's best athletes

European athletics has already published their shortlist of the athletes of the year and World athletics will not be far behind. So it is time for me to present mine, since, if I publish it before WA I will get to make comparisons of our respective choices.

The year has been a very good one. Coming back from the disaster of 2020 the athletes have offered us a season full of great spectacle and records. The Tokyo Olympics were a success despite the extreme restrictions under which they had to take place. There was a slew of new olympic champions and a few who managed to keep their crown. 

McLaughlin at the finish of the semifinal under a torrential rain

The best female athlete of the year, for me, is S. McLaughlin. She broke the 400 m hurdles world record, twice, and won the olympics in a race of at least equal quality to the one of 2019 in Doha, which saw D. Muhammad win in a world record. 

(Muhammad gets an honourable mention in the best athlete of the year's list. And let's not forget that both she and McLaughlin obtained a gold medal in the 4x400 m relay).

S. Hassan is second. Had she won her bet of three olympic gold medals she would have been at the top of my list. However in Tokyo she could win only the 5000 and 10000 m, getting bronze in the 1500 m. It's an incredible performance and if anybody has the potential to duplicate Zatopek's feat (he won the 5000, 10000 m and marathon at 1952 Olympics) that's Hassan.

A. Wlodarczyk is on the podium of the year's best. Her third consecutive olympic gold is a first for women. Wlodarczyk has been my 2017 athlete of the year. And she has been pointedly ignored by World Athletics despite the fact that she has dominated her discipline like none other. Let's hope that WA will not wait for a fourth olympic medal before honouring this great champion. 

Past the first three there is no order among the athletes of the top list. E. Thompson won her second olympic sprint double and this time, obtained a third gold with the jamaican 4x100 m relay team. Her 10.54 s time is, for me, the world record for the 100 m.

J. Camacho-Quinn dominated the season in the high hurdles and capped it with the olympic gold (a proper redemption after her fall in Rio).

P. Jepchirchir had made my top-three list last year. Had the competition been less fierce this year she would have been again on the podium. Be that as it may she proved once more that she is the best semi and marathon runner by winning the olympic event under taxing conditions.

Y. Rojas was named World Ahletics athlete of the year in 2020 (an absurd decision if there is any). This year she might have merited this title had there been fewer great champions ahead of her. Still, I included her unhesitantly in my top list after her olympic win cum world record performance. And she has improved her style a little bit.

V. Allman made my last year's list mainly thanks to her potential. A potential that she fully realised this year. She won the Olympics and improved her best with a 71.16 m throw.  And I really like her style.

M. Lasitskene, who is the best high jumper of the recent years  has at last added the olympic gold to her collection. She had lost the occasion to obtain gold in Rio because of the exclusion of Russia from international sport. I just cross my fingers for the harsh punishment of the russian federation to end.

F. Kipyegon dominated the 1500 m, and obtained a second olympic gold four years after Rio.  She is a great miler and her presence might push Hassan towards longer distances.

This completes my top-ten list. However I would like to add a honourable mention of S. Miller and N. Thiam. Both added a second olympic gold medal to their collection and, in the case of Miller, accompanied by a superb personal best of 48.36 s in the 400 m.

K. Warholm is my choice for athlete of the year. Not only did he dominate the 400 m hurdles but he went on to win the Olympics in an out-of-this-world record of 45.94 s and he dragged along the other finishers to fantastic performances. He was third in my last year's list.

R. Crouser showed that he is the best shot putter and, having won also in the Rio Olympics, is on his way to join the legends of throws. While the other elite throwers have just progressed, Crouser has really exploded and has now 7 of the 10 best throws of all times.

D. Warner occupies the third place in the list. I followed closely his decathlon in Götzis where he was deprived of a 9k+ record due to fouling his first throw in the javelin. He went after this barrier-breaking peformance in Tokyo, despite a below-par high jump. After a long career with plenty of honourable positions he is at last a well-merited number-one.

A. Duplantis was number one in my list last year. Had be broken the world record he would have occupied the same position for the second year in a row. Be that as it may, he figures in a prominent position in my top list. It is rare to see somebody so young dominate so thoroughly his discipline. 

Speaking of young competitors, the next one in my list is J. Ingebrigtsen. From the outset, nobody doubted his great talent but the question was whether he could stand up to the kenyans. Now we have the answer: he can beat them. It was great to see him win gold at 20-something years of age.

E. Kipchoge is the best marathon runner ever and won the olympic crown in Tokyo hands down. It's a pity that he came to the marathon a little bit too late. It would have been great to see him win a third olympic medal in the distance, somebody nobody else has done. 

M. Tentoglou is part of the top list and not only because he is greek. He won the (indoor) Europeans and the Olympics this year, the latter in a memorable, suspenseful competition and holds the year's leading performance. Way to go, Milto!

J. Cheptegei would have been competing for a place among the first three in my list of year's best had he won the 10000 m race (a race he lost due to a major tactical blunder). Be that as it may, he has his place among the ten best.

I have been watching A. DeGrasse since his collegiate career. I was convinced of his great talent but was worried when he hurt himself in 2018. Some athletes never manage to come back from injury. Not so DeGrasse. And in Tokyo he showed that he is ideed Bolt's heir in the 200 m.

J. Vetter's inclusion in my top list may surprise some readers in view of his way-below-par performance in Tokyo. However after having realised the problems with the run-up area I understood that athletes like Vetter who have fine-tuned their style may be completely thrown off by a bad surface coating. (I will, one day, write about throwing areas and their problems). Vetter is the only 90+ performer of the year.

I don't know if World Athletics will, like last year, give up on the rising star distinction. If they do I will, in 2022, imitate them. However for this year I will present my choice.

The female rising star of the year is A. Mu. She dominated the olympic 800 m and won a second gold with the US 4x400 m team.

I hesitated a lot between F. Bol and Mu for the first place opting finally for the latter. But F. Bol, bronze medalist in the 400 m hurdles, could very well have been first in the rising star category.

K. Hodgkinson completes the podium of the female rising stars. In just one season she went from practically unknown to one of the best 800 m runners, winning silver behind Mu in Tokyo.

The male rising star of the year is E. Knighton. He qualified for the Olympics at just 17 years of age and went on to finish 4th in the 200 m final. 

French (ex Australian) S. Zhoya is a most promising high-hurdler and an excellent pole-vaulter. I will be watching closely his transition from 99 cm to 106 cm hurdles.

Slovenian discus thrower K. Ceh is a tad old (22) to be counted as a rising star but since European Athletics included him in their list, I may as well do the same. After all, throwers are maturing later than the other athletes and his 70+ personal best looks most promising.

Finally I have a special mention for G. Tamberi and M. Barshim. When they decided to share the gold medal they gave everybody a great lesson that athletics is above all a school of friendship and fair-play. 

The blog is eight years old

One more year went by. After the disastrous 2020 (athletically speaking and otherwise), 2021 was a definite improvement. First, the Tokyo Olympics took place. It was a close thing. Just three months before the opening ceremony I published an article entitled "Tokyo Olympics: will they, won't they?". At that moment the opposition to the Games was mounting in Japan, the local government was criminally delaying the implementation of an efficient vaccination strategy and it looked as if the Games were going to be scraped.  Finally the obstacles were lifted and the Games could take place. (In some future post I will write about the uselessness of the Olympic Games, but this is not the right moment).

The athletics in the Games (they were the only sport I followed) were fabulous. I really did appreciate a lot the competitions and I am sure the athletes did also enjoy participating. 

World Athletics made a great effort to maintain the Diamond League circuit and they did succeed. The only thing I deplore is that, in order to rake in as much money as possible, World Athletics is selling the tv right to the various private channels and there is no way to watch the Diamond League competitions unless you decide to pay dearly for this (which I don't). 

The blog fared particularly well this year, toping 1000 visits every month with a peak at 3000 during the Olympics. It has by now become a tradition for me to choose a theme on which to write a series of articles. This year I decided to tell the story of the difficulties women had faced before being accepted in the international sports community. The series started in May with the introductory article "Women and the Olympics" and went on from there. Articles of the series are regularly appearing and I expect to complete it before the end of the year. If the question of women athletics (and women sports in general) does interest you I suggest that you track down my published articles and look out for the new ones that will be appearing.

My Olympic Report (2020): combined events

You know my passion for combined events. Thus I decided that there would be a special section in my olympic report devoted to the decathlon and the heptathlon. (And just to repeat what I am always saying, I still hope that I will see during my lifetime the perfect women-men parity, with women competing in a decathlon).

One Olympic champion (Thiam) and two world champions (Johnson-Thompson and Kaul) were present in Tokyo, and one should add the 2017 world champion K. Mayer and the top performer of the year (and multiple olympic and world medallist) D. Warner who barely missed the 9K barrier in Götzis, with 8995 points. The competition was going to be fierce.  And it was.

K. Williams was first after the 100 m hurdles, with 12.97 s, but Thiam moved to first place after the high jump 1.92 m and stayed there after the shot put, 14.92 m. Her hurdles performance was not bad, 13.54 s, a 0.2 s off her PB. However her high jump performance was way below par and it was clear that she would not dominate the event as she did in the past. This was confirmed at the last event of the day, the 200 m. Thiam ran a so-so 24.90 s and finished 3rd overall. Meanwhile A. Vetter had a solid first day with 13.09, 1.80, 15.29 and 23.81 finishing almost 50 points ahead of Thiam. N. Vidts, Thiam's compatriot, had a series of 13.17, 1.83, 14.33 and 23.70, obtaining the second place, with 20 points more than Thiam. The three US athletes, all having scored more than 6600 points in the Trials, were not in their trials shape, finishing 4th, 6th and 9th after the first day. X. Krizsan who had made a great impression in Götzis with 6651 points, was trailing at the 19th place. I always keep an eye on I. Dadic  who is a solid performer: she was 8th after the first day. And of course I was following also Ninali Zheng, aka Nina Schultz, who is now competing for China: she was 10th at that point. The two disappointments were N. Broersen, who could do no better than 17th at the end of the first day and called it quits and, of course, K. Johnson-Thompson. It was clear that KJT was not at her best this year, coming back form an Achilles tendon injury, but she was more than OK in the three first events. She was 5th after the shot put and could only improve her place with the 200 m. Well, things turned out quite differently: she never got to finish her 200 m due to a calf injury. The task of Thiam was somewhat easier after that.

On the second day Thiam won the long jump with 6.60 m moving to second place but Vetter was always first, Vidts slipping to 3rd. The event that was going to make a difference was the javelin throw. Thiam threw 54.68 m, a good throw (but far from her PB of 59.32 m) moving 64 points ahead of Vetter. At this point E. Oosterwegel, an excellent javelin thrower and an athlete I am keeping an eye on, threw 54.60 m improving her position to 4th. So prior to the 800 m the standings were: Thiam 5912, Vetter 5848, Williams 5642, Oosterwegel 5641, Vidts 5592 and Kunz 5540. When the 800 m started I expected Vetter to make a move, trying to distance Thiam in the hope of beating her for the first place. But it immediately appeared that she had no reserves, so she just followed Thiam up to the point where the latter accelerated and then she just hanged on securing the silver medal with 6689 points. Thiam won with 6791 points obtaining her second olympic victory. The interesting race was elsewhere. Vidts was better in the 800 m than both Williams and Oosterwegel and went all out trying to beat them and move to the third place. But Oosterwegel hanged on, massively improving her 800 PB, losing just 30 points to Vidts and finishing 3rd with 6590 points, obtaining the bronze medal. 

Vidts was 4th with 6571 points and Williams 5th with 6508. Dadic and Zheng finished 8th and 10th and Krizsan, despite her excellent 800 m, at the 13th place. I must make a special mention here of O. Ahouanwanou who was 5th at the end of the first day, 6th after 5 events and 10th after 6 events with 5481 points. Although she is a solid shot put thrower, with a PB of 15.79 m, her javelin throw is not as good, her PB being 48.02 m. But in Tokyo she was 4 m off. Had she thrown close to her PB she would have kept her 6th place. But the real disaster is her 800 m. She ran in 2:29.05 and slipped to 15th (!) place. With a just decent 800 m she could have vied for a place among the 8 first.   

Warner took control of the decathlon right from the first event where he equalled the decathlon world best performance with 10.12 s. He went on to jump 8.24 m which would have sufficed for a bronze medal in the individual long jump. He had a good throw at the shot put with 14.80 m but a slightly below-par high jump with just 2.02 m. He ended the day with 47.48 in the 400m and a total of 4722 points some 25 fewer than the ones he obtained in Götzis. Meanwhile Mayer started with 10.68 s and 7.50 m but it was in the shot put where it became clear that he was not in top shape. He threw 15.07 m, two metres off his PB. Talking to the press, he explained that he had some persistent back pain but he added that he will hang on and try to be on the podium. Things improved slightly when he jumped 2.08 m, just one cm shy of his PB and he completed the first day with 50.31 in the 400 m, finishing at the 5th place. 

Meanwhile P. LePage had an excellent first day (as usual) finishing 3rd overall. But the real surprise came from 21-year old A. Moloney. His series 10.34-7.64-14.49-2.11-46.29 obtained 4641 points and brought him to the second place. S. Bastien was occupying the 4th place, but over the second day he would fade to 10th. The winner of the US Trials G. Scantling was 6th, paying the price of a so-so performance at the high jump. He would try to catch-up over the second day but in the end he would be some 40 points shy of the podium. 

Warner started the second day with excellent performances 13.46 s in the hurdles and 48.67 m in the discus and followed with 4.90 in the pole vault (not his strong event). The order was always the same Warner-Moloney-LePage with Mayer occupying the 4th place. Moloney had a very good series of 14.08-44.36-5.00 comparable to LePage's 14.39-47.14-5.00. Mayer closed the gap with 13.90-48.08-5.20 and after 8 events he was 140 points behind Moloney and 46 behind LePage. At this point Mayer knew that he needed to throw at least 10 m more than those two in the javelin in order not to be threatened in the 1500 m. Warner threw 63.44 in the javelin. It was precisely the event which prevented him from reaching 9000 points in Götzis, having fouled an over 61 m throw and settling for a 59 m one. The 60 points javelin difference would allow him in the end of the day to join the 9K+ club. And Mayer, gave us another proof of his immense talent by throwing a personal best of 73.09 m, moving to the second place with margin to spare. Moloney and LePage could do not better than 57 m and, given that Scantling threw an almost PB of 69.10, were now 3rd and 5th, with Scantling occupying the 4th position. These positions would not change after the 1500 m. When the race started I was somewhat perplexed when I saw Warner running at a rather conservative pace. I knew that he needed something better than 4:34 in order to break the 9000 points barrier but he was too slow for this. Well, up to the last lap. There, he shifted gear and sprinted all the way to the finish, completing his run in 4:31.08 giving him a total of 9018 points. Had he jumped at his usual level at the high jump he would have flirted with the 9100 points. So the obvious question is, can he break the world record? Well, perhaps, but he has to make some real progress in the pole vault and, given his age, his margin of progression is getting thinner by the year.

So, after two days of gruelling competition Warner was first with 9018 points, Mayer second with 8726 and Moloney third with 8649 (and Oceania record). They were followed by Scantling 8611 and LePage 8604 (a personal best). Among the other decathletes, the one I always keep an eye on is L. Victor, who finished 7th with 8414 points (but to my opinion he has a 8600+ potential). 

I was really disappointed by the performance of the estonian decathletes: they finished Erm 11th, Uibo 15th and Tilga 20th (the latter having no-heighted at the pole vault).

N. Kaul has been most unfortunate in these Olympics. He started the competition with an excellent series 11.22-7.36-14.55-2.11 with personal bests in the jumps. But it was in the high jump that he hurt his right foot. He took the start of the 400 m but he was unable to finish and was carried away weeping. Given that he was in a very good shape I estimate his final score in the 8600-8700 range: a place on the podium would have been possible. I guess that we have to wait for next year and the World's in order to see a battle at the highest level.