My all-time best list

I have had this idea for quite some time. To tell the truth I have been thinking along this line since World Athletics (they were called IAAF at that time) awarded the athlete of the 20th century title to F. Blankers-Koen 

and C. Lewis. I was beginning to be disappointed by C. Lewis and his attitude (at that time, and the feeling grew over the years). To tell the truth I could not understand why Lewis was selected rather than, say Owens or Zatopek. So I decided to establish my own list of top athletes. It is definitely a subjective one. For instance you will not find King Carl in my top list. He should have figured there on pure technical arguments, but knowing perfectly that I am unfair I preferred to give his place to some other athlete (in this case to none other than the great Tommie Smith).

It is customary to have a top-ten list but in my case I found this too restrictive. So, I opted for a top-twelve. Moreover I decided that I would not include athletes who are still in their prime. So athletes like A. Duplantis, A. Felix, E. Thompson-Herah, S. McLaughlin or A. Wlodarczyk do not figure in the list. I made an exception for E. Kipchoge in the men's list since he is, to my eyes, the greatest Marathon runner ever. He can very well win a few more Marathons but given what he has already done he has won his place among the all-time best.

So without further ado, here is my top-12 list for men

James Thorpe
Jesse Owens
Emil Zatopek 
Parry O’Brien
Al Oerter
Bikila Abebe
Tommie Smith
Edwin Moses
Hicham ElGuerouj
Sergey Bubka
Usain Bolt
Eliud Kipchoge

and for women

Kinue Hitomi
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Iolanda Balas
Wilma Rudolph
Irina Szewinska
Marita Koch
Merlene Ottey
Heike Drechsler
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Yelena Isinbaeva
Tirunesh Dibaba
Valerie Adams

And since I talked about the athlete of the 20th century and made clear that I did not approve the choice of C. Lewis (while I found the choice of F. Blankers-Koen quite justified) I should present my own choice for the athlete of the century: E. Zatopek.

His feat is unique: in the 1952 Olympics he won the 5000 m, 10000 m and the Marathon, despite the fact that it was his first participation in the latter event. (L. Viren tried to match Zatopek's feat in 1976 but could only finish 5th in the Marathon).

Should I laugh or should I cry? The modern pentathlon slapstick

Modern pentathlon is a superannuated discipline that would have disappeared were it not a deCoubertenian heirloom (and the fact that its current promoter is none other than Juan Antonio Samaranch junior).

Why should I laugh? In a recent article of mine on modern pentathlon I wrote 

"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 Union Internationale du Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) mandarins".

And, lo and behold, it was the obstacle course that was chosen as the discipline that will replace the equestrian event.

Why should I cry? I am afraid that with this program change the modern pentathlon may well survive the 2028 purge and keep its place in the olympic program. So my "good riddance" article was perhaps a bit premature.

But let us give a succinct background. Modern pentathlon has always been a niche discipline. Were it not for the protection it was receiving by generations of IOC VIPs it would have crept into oblivion a long time ago. But even so, the Tokyo equestrian scandal put the discipline back on the head-chopping block. For those who did not follow: a german coach hit a recalcitrant horse and in the general outcry that ensued the UIPM decided to remove the equestrian event from the pentathlon program. 

A first remark concerns the slowness (or is it hesitancy?) of decision taking of the IOC. Despite the Tokyo debacle, the equestrian event will be present in Paris in 2024. And if some pentathletes are assigned difficult horses, like the one who created the problem in Tokyo, well, tough luck: a multi-year preparation going down the drain because of the absence of a courageous decision.

The IOC decided that they would re-consider the possibility of inclusion of the modern pentathlon in the Los Angeles program, once a replacement event was chosen. This will be most probably done sometimes during the next year but I am not very optimistic concerning the eviction of this unnatural discipline.

But let us go back to the obstacle course: I find the one proposed by the UIPM simply ridiculous. Following the IOC president's recommendations that the new discipline should 

"... demonstrate a significant reduction in cost and complexity and improvements across the areas for safety, accessibility, universality, appeal for youth and general public" 

the obstacle course is a watered-down event, with of roughly 100 m length and 10 obstacles. 

The choice of obstacles is clearly inspired by the ninja warrior tv show, even including the tsunami wall at the end. But with such an easy course one would expect the best athletes to breeze through it with minimal time differences and a small, time-costing, mistake being disproportionally penalising. I am convinced that only a difficult course can offer a fair classification. 

Were I to choose an obstacle course my choice would have been the CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) military one, a 500 m long course with 20 obstacles. This is a course requiring a good combination of strength and speed. A ninja warrior event on the other hand is mainly a strength based event with speed and equilibrium playing a minor role. The UIPM course lies between the two in the sense that it requires both strength and speed but to my eyes it looks like a course for ninja toddlers.

I have already written my ideas on possible really modern pentathlons. But while preparing this article I started pondering the question why the UIPM was so fast-acting in announcing that they would not choose cycling as a replacement of the equestrian event. The conclusion I reached is that they did not wish to look as if they were trying to overshadow the triathlon. (Were they to enter into direct competition with the triathlon, the modern pentathlon would have been expelled then and there from the Games). But let's get back to the quest for an optimal and really modern discipline. First let us forget about fencing. It is quire respectable discipline but it is one where the result depends on the opponents and thus can never be universal. I have mixed feelings about target shooting. It could be preserved in a pentathlon only combined (biathlon-like) with the cross event but I would be equally happy with a well-balanced tetrathlon. So here is what I would like. First a real obstacle course, in the 400-500 m range with 16-20 obstacles, inspired from the military course ones, and why not (for the ninja fans), a warped wall at the end. Then a mountain-bike cross with obstacles. I have zero knowledge when it comes to biking but I am sure that what I propose already exists. An obstacle swimming course of circa 200 m length with 10 or so obstacles (perhaps even swam with fins) could be the third event. And finally a cross, a real one, over a rugged terrain over. The latter could even be disputed as a handicap race, following the Gundersen method. (In an article of mine I called the latter absurd and I keep thinking this as far as the decathlon is concerned. However in a discipline like the one that I am proposing now, and which is essentially locomotion-based, the Gundersen handicap is a possibility).

So, where do we stand with the burdensome legacy of our beloved baron? I am afraid that the IOC warning was just a token one and we'll see the pentathlon being disputed in Los Angeles and being happily celebrated ever after. My only consolation is that the new event may attract the public's interest and obstacle races may become a mainstream discipline. Time will tell. 

WA athletes of the year (another flawless prediction)

OK, I know that I'm bragging. But the fact is that I did correctly predict the winners of this year's awards (and not only in the senior category). 

I was anxious up to the very last moment concerning the selection of S. McLaughlin. (She married recently so she is from now on referred to as McLaughlin-Levrone). Had the title gone to T. Amusan I would have considered this an injustice for McLaughlin but I would have (grudgingly) accepted it. No, my real fear was that the title would to go to a certain sprinter from the Caribbean. Anyhow, all is well that ends well. McLaughlin at just 22 years of age has obtained everything: olympic gold, world champion's title and world records (her most recent one is a fantastic 50.68 s at this year's World's).

She won the U18 400 m hurdles world title in 2015, while not yet 16 years old. And the next year she created the surprise by securing a place in the US olympic team with am impressive 54.15 s at the Trials. 

McLaughlin winning in Cali in 2015

She continued progressing steadily and in 2019, at the World's, she pushed D. Muhammad at a new world record, 52.16 s, McLaughlin becoming herself the second best performer with 52.23 s. And the scenario repeated itself two years later in the Tokyo Olympics where McLaughlin won in a world record 51.46s, Muhammad also dipping under the ancient record in 51.58 s. These two races are certainly the best 400 m hurdles races ever run.

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is even a few months younger than McLaughlin. And he also has already won everything: olympic gold, world champion's title and world records, the most recent being 6.21 m (which, moreover, was established outdoors something exceptional in the recent history of pole vault). Duplantis has been pole vaulting since he was three years old, and he still holds the records for ages 7 to 12. A World Athletics article is giving his progression from age 6 to today. Really impressive.

He cannot be older than six or seven in the photo

In 2018 he was nominated as rising star of the year both by European and by World Athletics and in 2020 he was voted World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year. So this is his second year's best title. He was, of course, number one in my list but I was not quite confident about his selection by World Athletics given that he had obtained the European Golden Tracks less that two months before. Well, I am reassured now.

The problem is that World Athletics has the tendency to pass over athletes that have been rewarded by European Athletics. The most blatant case of that of V. Alekna (who was my choice for this year's rising star award). He was silver medalist in this year's World's and went on to win the european title. This should have sufficed for him to secure the world rising star nomination. However after he had won the european nomination World Athletics just ignored him: he did not even make the five-person list. 

Moving now to the ones who were chosen I must say that I agree 100 % with the WA choice. A. Vilagos was the one I have selected and E. Knighton was mentioned in my rising stars list. One reason I have not put him forward was that he had won the rising star title already last year and never before have we seen somebody win this twice. Well, Knighton did it, a remarkable first in this domain. (And the funny thing is that Knighton will still be eligible next year).

In the official WA photo Vilagos is looking much older than her real age, so, in order to compensate I am including a photo of her throwing the vortex while very young.

A 12-year old Vilagos throwing the vortex

Vortex is the commercial name of the toy-missile she is holding. She excelled at this and at an age of 13 she graduated to the javelin. As I explained already, while european 2022 champion E. Tzengko (who is just two years older than Vilagos and was nominated European rising star this year) is stronger, Vilagos has a better throwing technique. So, I am keeping an eye on both of them.

The photo of the year winner is here (and, for once, I called it)

World Athletics just published their choice for the Athletics Photograph of the year. As you know I am following the end-of-the-year WA prizes and I am making my own predictions. In the case of the photos they started by giving the three finalists before revealing the shortlisted ones.

Immediately upon seeing the three finalists I chose this one

And (drum roll) today we learned that it's the winner. It's a dramatic moment and in fact one may think that it was game over for Lea Meyer who fell headfirst into the river. Well, she managed to finish her race (although she did not qualify for the final) in a quite respectable 9:30.81 and one month later she won the silver medal in the European Championships with a personal best of 9:15.35.

To tell truth, I was not confident that the photo I chose was the one to win. I was thinking that, while the photo of Meyer's fall had more drama, the photo of the victory of J. Richards at the Commonwealth Games

was more "artistic".

By the way, there is another photo of Meyer's fall among the shortlisted ones, but clearly the one that was selected was the best of the two. 

There are many more nice photos, like the one of S. Miller-Uibo framed by the shadow of the stadium's roof

or the one of D. Kambundji, disconsolate after a fall in hurdles during this winter Indoor World's.

And if you are looking for drama, here is the photo of S. Zhoya hitting hard and breaking a hurdle at this year's European's.

A great collection overall, so, if you are a photo fan, don't hesitate to spend a time perusing the World Athletics page.