Light men throwing

Four years ago I published an article entitled "Heavy men running". At that time I had a subscription to D. Harder's "Speed and Strength" newsletter and I had stumbled upon an interesting list of records by bodyweight. I analysed Dale's data and presented my conclusions. A surprising (at least to me) fact was that even overweight men could complete a marathon. If you are intrigued by this I recommend that you go back to that post of mine and get the details.

Since Harder is presenting data not only for track but also for field events I was planning to write an article on them but I was holding back because of the imperial measures. Harder, as most Americans, is working with inches, feet, yards, and pounds, things that are so 19th century. And while I understand that the US do not wish to spend the money and energy in order to switch to the metric system I do not get the use of imperial units in sport. I was dispirited by the idea of having to do the conversions but recently, while tidying up my files, I found the newsletter and decided to stop procrastinating.

I opted to focus on the shot put where the range of thrower weights was substantial: over a factor of 2 between the heavier and the lighter. The results are shown in the figure below. 

The continuous line corresponds to an exponential fit. From the values of the fit parameters one can infer that the gains in the throw length with increasing body mass are minimal for the elite throwers, the longest estimated throw being around 24 m. At the other end of the spectrum, one finds that the throw length goes to zero for a body mass around 35 kg. I don't know if there are adult men, of normal stature, with such a light weight (some women do exist though, weighing even below 30 kg). But situating the zero-throw capability at around that low a body mass is not unreasonable. 

There was one list that kindled my interest, that of the decathlon. Here is the figure of performance versus body mass obtained from Harder's data. 

In the upper part of the graph one finds the various elite decathletes with performances over 8000 points. However there exist also three points, spanning the domain of 6000-4000 points. They are due to L. Riedel, B. Oldfield and O. Buder, respectively olympic and world discus throw champion, shot put world record thrower (whose records were, alas, not homologated) and european shot put silver medalist. If one tries to extrapolate from these three last points one obtains a maximum body mass of around 160-170 kg. This is really absurd since there are shot putters in that weight range who can definitely score some points in the decathlon. The name I have in mind is that of I. Ivanov from Kazachstan, medalist at the Asian games and a 20+ m thrower who weighs upwards to 160 kg. He should definitely be able to obtain some score in the decathlon even scoring a zero in the hurdles and pole vault. 

Speaking of which, reminds me of something I read in the 50s. As I have explained I was already interested in the decatlhon and was not missing even the most trifling news. So I remember having seen in a greek sports' newspaper a short paragraph on S. Meconi (European shot put record holder) who had completed a decathlon and obtained something around 2500 points.

Of course it might have been a decathlon disputed as a joke, but still I found it rather shocking that he could not do better than that. Meconi was a 120 kg athlete and it is most probable that at that time the throwers were not working on their speed but just tried to capitalise on their strength. Things have changed since then.

The scabrous story of Sebastian Coe's wild card

This is a story I had somehow missed when it happened (many years ago). I discovered it recently in an article in Inside the Games. Since the story is not quite flattering for Lord Sebastian, I suspect that the publication was encouraged by one of the other candidates for the IOC presidency. 

But let's start at the beginning. Coe, who at that time was simply Sebastian Coe and not a Lord, went to the Moscow, 1980, Olympics as the big favourite in the 800 m (he was already world recordman with 1:42.33) and then, to the surprise of everybody,  was beaten by Ovett. But he took his revenge in the 1500 m adding gold to his silver. 

Coe had broken Bayi's World record wit 3:32.1 (in fact, 3:32.03), but in 1980 Ovett had equalled it just before the Games, with 3:32.1 (slightly slower than Coe's at 3:32.09).  In case you wonder, the current timing rules, stipulating a hundredth of a second precision, were introduced in 1981. Ovett broke the tie with 3:31.36 just after the Olympics (and further improved that with  3:30.77 in 1983).

In 1981 Coe improved the 800 m world record, with 1:41.73, a record that stood for 16 years. He went to the Los Angeles, 1984, Olympics again as the 800 m favourite. And again he lost, this time to Joaquim Cruz. And again he went on to win the 1500 m. In fact Coe's only victory over 800 m in a major championship was his European title, won in Stuttgart in 1986.

In 1988 Coe tried to obtain a third olympic selection. Up to 1984, the selection was done by a panel of selectors but in 1988 the system had changed. The first two slots were given to the winners of trials and only the third was discretionary. Coe, hoping to obtain the discretionary slot in the 800 m, participated in the 1500 m of the UK trials, but did not manage to qualify for the final. And then the third position in the 800 m was given, by the British Amateur Athletic Board in a tight 11 to 10 vote, to P. Elliott (he was the only briton who in the end made the final in Seoul, finishing fourth). Coe responded graciously, but his father and coach called the decision political. 

Coe on the right with Samaranch in the middle

The then IOC president, Marqués Juan Antonio Samaranch, tried to have the decision reconsidered, claiming that many people would like to see Coe running in Seoul. (It is also rumoured that India was willing to include Coe in its national team, given that his mother was of indian origin, her father being punjabi). The answer of the British Amateur Athletic Board to Samaranch was that if he wished to give a wild card to Coe, violating the three-person limit per nation fixed by the Olympic Charter, he could to do so himself. The reactions did not take long to arrive. Everybody knew that Coe was a personal favourite of Samaranch, groomed for a position in the IOC. And S. Cram, a miler rival of Coe, did not mince his words: "it is wrong for the IOC to be playing the old pals act". So Samaranch back-pedalled and telephoned Coe to announce him that he could not be seen breaking the rules. The olympic adventure of S. Coe was over.

He put an end to his competitive carreer in 1990, after having finished 6th in the 800 m of the Auckland,1990, Commonwealth Games. He went on to become a Life Peer, as Baron Coe of Ranmore, in 2000 (hence my referring to him a Lord Sebastian). He retired from the House of Lords in 2022. He now hopes to follow in the steps of another Olympic Baron and all the olympic nobility, acceding to the presidency of the IOC. 

And, to be fair, despite myself often criticising Coe's actions, I am in favour of his candidacy given his unambiguous pro-women stance. If Coe is elected at the presidency of the IOC, all those men who declare themselves to be women will not be allowed to poison our sports. 

PS. While I am invoking a possible conspiracy concerning the publication of the article of Inside the Games, the article may be motivated by something  totally different. Ukrainian sabre fencer O. Kharlan was disqualified when, at the world championships that were the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics, she did not shake hands with her russian opponent. And the IOC president T. Bach took action immediately promising Kharlan that she was being guaranteed a spot in the Olympics. Kharlan competed in Paris, winning an individual bronze and a team gold. And Bach has thus created a precedent where his predecessor, Samaranch, had not dared take the plunge.

The best sports photos of 2024

In my article on the athletes of the year 2024 I was commenting on the paucity of the athletics photos shortlisted buy World Athletics. Being rather tolerant I was writing that "there is nothing exceptional about this year's photos". Well, calling a spade a spade, this year's photos (with one of two exceptions) suck.

So, I was impressed when, while visiting P.J. Vazel's X page, I stumbled upon this great photo, a composite of the olympic men's 100 m final. (Those who follow my blog may remember that in May 2024 I had published another composite photo, based on a women's 100 m hurdles race). There are just 8 rows of the runners, but, given te perspective, they do suffice in order to give a vivid representation of the race. 

I followed the link and I ended up on a page of BBC-Sport that gives a collection of the best sports photos of 2024 together with some explanations by the photograph. Some of the photos are absolutely breathtaking. You have most certainly seen the photo of the levitating surfer, Gabriel Medina, but there are many more that are worth the visit to the BBC page. 

And a few days later I happened upon another collection of sports photos. There were not exclusively Athletics photos but there was a hefty collection of the latter. Among them there were two photos of Yavi celebrating her victory in the 3000 m steeplechase, the sprint of Hassan with Assefa and the photo of Barega with Aregawi that I did like among the World Athletics selection. But one photo attracted my attention. 

(In 2018 I had published a similar photo of the greek hurdler E. Pesiridou, who fell during the 60 m hurdles of the World Indoors). There was no caption to the BBC photo so I set out to find who was the unfortunate hurdler. That was quite easy since the fall was during the Rome Europeans and the athlete was running in lane 8. It turned out that only one athlete did not finish her race: A. Toth, during the 100 m hurdles semi-final. She stumbled on the ninth hurdle, was unable to recover, hit the tenth hurdle, losing her balance and falling on the track. She did not sustain any injuries but of course she was out of the final (although, to tell the truth, she was not in a qualifying position even before the incident).

Seeing those excellent photos one wonders why the ones of the World Athletics selection are so mediocre. I believe that this is due to the fact that nobody cares about World Athletics. Having a photo selected by BBC is precious for every photographer's resumé. Having taken the n-th photo of Lyles in order to appeal to Lord Sebastian's taste is not. It's as simple as that.  

The Hurdles First site

While working on the Moses "13 steps" article I happened upon a site I haven't seen before. It's called "Hurdles First". 

It has been created in 2004 by S. McGill a hurdles' coach who wished to share his hurdles passion with a larger audience. The site was revamped in 2013, and found a way to monetisation through the publication of a monthly magazine "The Hurdles Mag". The site gives a very detailed description of the contents of each issue of the Magazine, which includes five full-length articles, one workout and one instructional video. Here is a typical breakdown of the articles 

• A full-length biographical profile of a well-known collegiate or professional hurdler or hurdle coach that discusses the entirety of his or her career and includes many insightful quotes.

• An article that provides advice regarding training, injury prevention, weight training, or diet. This article will always include insights from a professional in the appropriate field.

• An article that provides a hurdler-specific viewpoint on a debatable issue or thought-provoking topic in Track & Field.

• A personal hurdling-related story, written by a hurdler for hurdlers.

• An article discussing one or more high-level hurdle races that occurred within the past month. In months when there are no big meets, we will double up on one of the above categories.

Perusing the contents of the recent issues I found them really interesting. I liked the quote from R. Nehemiah. The first man under 13 seconds in the 110 hurdles said that "if you want to excel in the hurdles, you have to learn how to hurdle”. For those who do not remember, Nehemiah had two careers in the hurdles interrupted by a foray in american football from 1982 to 1985. His annus mirabilis was 1979, when he won the Pan American Games and the IAAF World Cup, broke twice the world record with 13.16 and 13.00 s and ran a wind-aided 12.91 s. He missed out on an olympic medal in 1980 due to Carter's stupid boycott of the Moscow Olympics. He improved the world record under regular conditions with 12.93 s in 1981. Timed 19.4 on a 4x200 m relay split and 44.3 on a 4x400 m relay anchor, Nehemiah could have gone after the 400 m hurdles world record as well. He missed out on the olympic US team in 1988, finishing fourth in the Trials but he made the team for the 1991 Worlds'. Unfortunately, an injury kept him from competing. But I liked even more the quote from A. Campbell (bronze medalist in Seoul, 1988, and world indoor champion in 1987): “The first thing a hurdler learns is how to fall”. How true!

I urge you to visit the site and have a look at the content of the recent Hurdles Mags. But (yes, there is always a "but"), there is a downside. The yearly subscription to the magazine is a hefty 90 dollars. So, unless someone is a hurdles aficionado I don't think that anybody would put that kind of money in an, all things considered, amateur publication. (But then it's perhaps my poor-man european vision of things, and people in the US, who are paying of the order of 100 dollars per month for a broadband internet connection, could think otherwise). 

And if you decide to have a go at the free articles of the site where one can find top-ten lists and lists of "all-time greats", you are in for a time travel to the past. There is nothing more recent than 2013. Probably the content was carried over from the then existing site, during the 2013 overhaul, and nobody cared to update it. But overall the site is interesting and I thought that I should share its existence with you.

The Moses story and the 13 steps saga

Those who follow my blog know that I like a lot the 400 m hurdles event. All the more so, since the decathletes have a fascination for this gruelling event. I have posted on several occasions articles on the low hurdles and there are frequent references to the ones I call the musketeers of the 400 m hurdles. This article is inspired by a post on the World Athletics site announcing a documentary on Edwin Moses entitled, "Moses  - 13 steps". 

Unfortunately the documentary does not appear to be available in Europe (but there is a trailer on youtube). Anyhow, interesting as it certainly is, the documentary is more biographical than technical (although it certainly contains most interesting clips from Moses' races). For me, it was the motivation to revisit the question of the number of steps between hurdles, where Moses did indeed revolutionise the discipline. 

In the 400 m the first hurdle is at 45 m from the start and the subsequent distance between hurdles is 35 m (and there remain 40 m after the last hurdle to the finish line). For many years, the graal was for the elite men hurdlers to be able to run in 13 strides between hurdles from the second to the tenth. The advantage of an odd number of steps is that every hurdle is passed with the same leading foot (and, clearly, everybody has a dominant one). 

The podium at the Helsinki Olympics

The first to attempt a 13-step race was Ch. Moore who won the 400 m hurdle title at the 1952, Helsinki, Olympics but only up to the fifth hurdle, switching to a 15-step rhythm afterwards. Moore ran in an Olympic record of 50.8 s, the 50.6 s world record of G. Hardin dating back to 1934. Second behind Moore was the soviet hurdler Y. Lituyev who noticed Moore's technique and decided to adopt it. He was the first to try 13 steps all the way to the last hurdle. And with this technique Lituyev broke in 1953 G. Hardin's world record with 50.4 s. However Lituyev's technique was not flawless and he could not avoid an occasional stumble. In fact, this is how he lost the European title in 1954, stumbling between the 7th and 8th hurdles, in a race won by A. Yulin with 50.5 s, Lituyev being second with 50.8 s. Had he not stumbled he might have been the first man below 50 s in the low hurdles.

It was Moses who mastered the technique of 13 steps and used it throughout his races. The problem is that one has to keep a 2.7 m stride, something quite difficult over the bends and towards the end of the race when tiredness sets in. Still, Moses, with his 1.88 m stature did not have trouble with this. He dominated the event, winning 122 consecutive victories. He won the 1976 and 1984 Olympics and would have won the 1980 ones were it not for the ridiculous boycott of the Moscow Olympics by the US. (But since he finished only third in Seoul in 1988, he would not have equalled Oerter's feat. In fact, he wouldn't have even surpassed Saneyev who obtained silver after three golds). 

Moses was prophetic in his predictions for the discipline. On one occasion he stated that a 12-step rhythm might be necessary in order to break the 47 s and perhaps 46 s barrier. Moses would have been perfectly capable to switch his style to 12-strides. In fact he had to do it in 1981, while racing in Zurich, over two successive hurdles in order to avoid falling. But his dominance of the event was such that he did not need to change anything. 

It was K. Young, who broke Moses' record and the 47 s barrier who tried a 12-step rhythm. His pattern was 20 strides to the first hurdle, 13 strides to hurdles 2 and 3, then 12 strides to hurdles 4 and 5 and finally 13 strides from the 6th hurdle to the end. (But let's not forget that Young, with 1.93 m, was even taller than Moses). 

In my article "Revisiting the 400 m hurdles..." I discuss the technique of Young along with that of double olympic champion F. Sanchez, who, being rather short (just 1.75 m), could maintain a 13-stride rhythm only over the very first hurdles. What is curious is that J. Culsón (olympic and world medalist), who is the tallest of the elite hurdlers with 2.01 m, was running with 13 steps up to the eighth hurdle and then switched to 14. 

World record holder K. Warholm is the shortest among todays' hurdling elite, but with 1.87 m he is just one cm shorter than Moses. Still, we see him often having trouble at the last hurdles either switching to 15 steps (Warholm is not equally at ease hurdling with either leg), or, if he tries to maintain the 13 rhythm, hitting the last hurdle and losing time. (In fact he switched from 13 to 15 for the last three hurdles during the Paris Olympics). A. Samba (1.92 m) and K. McMaster (1.91 m) both opt for 13 strides up to the 6th hurdle and then switch to 14. The one who seems to have mastered the 13-stride technique is R. Benjamin, who is of the same stature as the previous two (1.91 m). However, from time to time, he passes a few hurdles in 12 steps, but it seems as if he is "overstriding" rather than having planned that. The one who is really implementing the 12 steps is A. Dos Santos. Being 2 m tall and at ease with both legs, he has no trouble maintaining 12 steps up to hurdle five and then continuing with 13. (And he passes the first hurdle with 19 steps while most high-level athletes need 20). 

And how about women? They use typically 15 steps between hurdles. But S. McLaughlin (1.75 m) is changing this. She is hurdling with 14 steps up to the seventh hurdle and then switches to 15, and she is experimenting with a 14-stride pace throughout. It goes without saying that she is perfectly at ease with both legs. Her greatest rival F. Bol, somewhat taller at 1.80 m, but slightly less at ease with both legs, has also adopted the 14-step technique.  

So, the way to astral performances passes through a reduction of the number of steps between hurdles. And Moses was the one who traced this way.

"Eleven wretched women" or how misogyny is still reigning

On January 2020 I wrote an article entitled "Eleven wretched women, or how fake news almost killed women athletics". It's one of the best articles I have written in this blog. Unfortunately it has gone almost unnoticed, with just over 300 views, while my article on the javelin controversy has more than 12 thousand. 

For those of you who have not read it (although I urge you to follow the link and read it in detail) here is a summary. 

In 1928, at the Amsterdam Olympics, after de Coubertin had retired, women events were admitted in the athletics program. The women's 800 m race was held on August 1 and 2. Twenty-five athletes in all presented themselves in the heats and 9 were qualified for the final. (It is most probable that E. Weber dropped out after one lap, but there is nothing about this in the official report. In any case we can see her on the right, smiling together with the winner L. Radke and 7th place finisher M. Dollinger, who had set an olympic record in the heats). 

Dollinger, Radke and Weber

The final was won by L. Radke in a new world record. She was followed by K. Hitomi and I. Gentzel. At the finish line F. McDonald, leaning in order to beat B. Rosenfeld, tripped and fell. She was helped to her feet by the judges and that was that. 

And then the opprobrious articles started raining. It started with the article of W. Shirer in the Chicago Tribune where he reported that 5 women collapsed on the track, F. McDonald needed to be "worked over" after her fall, and Hitomi needed a 15 min revival after suffering from complete exhaustion. Shirer was probably enjoying a drink at some Amsterdam bar instead of being at the stadium and, fearing for his career at the newspaper (he was just 24 at the time), he invented a sensational story. (It is really a shame that Shirer, who became a renowned historian, author of the famous "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", had started his career as a misogynist liar). The lies of Shirer were surpassed by those of J. Tunis, who, according to the Wikipedia, is the "inventor of the modern sports story". Well, his article in the N.Y. Evening Post is a perfect example of a sports horror story.

The consequence of these lies was that the IAAF banned the 800 m from the women's program. To tell the truth the IAAF Areopagus were itching to eradicate women events from the olympic program. And women had to wait till 1960 in order to see the 800 m reinstated.

But this is the story I have written already and telling it again would be an overkill. The only reason I decided to write again on this subject was a recent article on the World Athletics site. The article was an interesting one. It was comparing the women's 2024 performances to those of their male counterparts of a century ago, in the Paris 1924 Olympics. (In case you have not followed my series on the long and arduous road of women to the Olympics, there were no women's athletics events in Paris, 1924). A. Milliat had appealed to the IOC but met with de Coubertin's refusal who declared that he did not approve of the participation of women in public competitions. "At the Olympic Games, their role should above all be to crown the winners”). The WA article points out that many of the current women's world records are better than the men's ones of a century back. The ones I find most impressive is F. Kipyegon's 3:49.04 in the 1500 m, beating the one P. Nurmi set in 1924, 3:52.6, by a full three seconds and B. Chebet's 28:54.14 beating the 28:54.2 of E. Zatopek established in 1954(!).

I was enjoying the article and then I arrived at the following paragraph.

I was flabbergasted. That was an article published in the official page of the World Athletics federation. And it was perpetuating the calumny. I did not know if it was bad journalism or misogyny (or an unhealthy mixture of both) but I was really shocked. I wrote immediately to World Athletics pointing out that the article was based on century-old fake news. (It goes without saying that I never received an answer and the article was never amended). To my eyes the things are clear. While the people who are managing sports are pretending to favour women-men parity, deep in their hearts they do not give a damn about women. 

There is a great article in Women's Running entitled "The 1928 olympics scandal", talking about what happened in the women's 800 m in Amsterdam. (It's written by R. Robinson, author, among others, of what is considered as the reference book 'Running through time").

(Robinson's article is so good that, had it appeared before I wrote my own, I might have decided not to write on the subject). One thing I learned in that article was that H. Abraham, the 1924 gold medallist over 100 m, who worked as a journalist in 1928, wrote: "I do not consider that women are built for really violent exercise”. Clearly he was going along with the current prevailing in that era. But 30 years later, when women had started making a headway into athletics, he revised his position, writing: “The sensational descriptions of the terrible exhaustion which overcame the runners in this race, much exaggerated I can assure you, led to the abandonment of this event from the Games”. 

And of course, the worse enemies of women happen to be women (in case you are wondering, the main reason there is no official women's decathlon is because of the opposition of women heptathletes). B. Robinson, who won the 100 m race confided that “I believe the 220 yard dash is long enough for any girl to run. Imagine girls falling down before they hit the finish line or collapsing when the race is over! The laws of nature never provided a girl with the physical equipment to withstand the gruelling pace of such a grind”. Amazing!

Robinson (the author, not the sprinter) does not hesitate to allude to something that sounds like a conspiracy theory, namely that the IOC somehow made it known that they would welcome attention to the negative aspects in reporting the race. But the sad fact is that, at that time, (almost) everybody believed that women would be harmed by any endurance effort and they interpreted or twisted the facts accordingly. Sometimes that was cast in a (pseudo)scientific jargon, like the one of a woman doctor, correspondent of the London Times, who wrote: “Nature made woman to bear children, and she cannot rid herself of the fat to the extent necessary for feats of extreme endurance”.

Journalistic slopiness, conspiracy, unfounded scientific beliefs, one can more or less interpret what happened in 1928. But understanding what happened does not mean that one can forgive it. And, seeing that World Athletics is willing to repeat a blatant lie, one starts wondering whether flagrant jeering sexism (Robinson's expression) isn't still dominating the sports world.