I'll grant that race-walking looks sillier than most other sports, but I think it's just an extreme example of something that all sports have a problem with: arbitrary restrictions that are put on to make it harder for participants to do it, and to distinguish it from other sports.
I mean, consider: isn't it kind of silly that in soccer, you can't use your hands? Or that in bicycling, they are not allowed to use certain kinds of bicycles (recumbents, "superman bars", etc.) because they are demonstrably superior to the traditional design? Or that swimmers aren't allowed to use flippers or hand-paddles or snorkels, even though the human hand and feet are absolutely awful for propulsion? Or that rowers have to use oars instead of pedal-powered propellers? Or that you can't use a spring-loaded launch platform or booster rockets in the 100-meter dash . . .
Well, OK, maybe not that last one. But these are the sorts of things that run through my mind while watching the Olympics. And I think about how very, very different the whole thing would be if a lot of the arbitrary rules were, let us say, "relaxed" a bit.
After all, wouldn't *you* like to see a version of the 100-yard dash where the restrictions were a bare minimum? Like, for example, any apparatus you use has to be entirely human-powered, and not leave any bits behind as it travels, but otherwise anything goes? For starters, we'd probably see sprinters wearing something like these!
but yet rugby isn't.
ReplyDeleteand if dressage is an olympic event, they should have the horses march in the parade of nations. they do all the work anyway.
I'll grant that race-walking looks sillier than most other sports, but I think it's just an extreme example of something that all sports have a problem with: arbitrary restrictions that are put on to make it harder for participants to do it, and to distinguish it from other sports.
ReplyDeleteI mean, consider: isn't it kind of silly that in soccer, you can't use your hands? Or that in bicycling, they are not allowed to use certain kinds of bicycles (recumbents, "superman bars", etc.) because they are demonstrably superior to the traditional design? Or that swimmers aren't allowed to use flippers or hand-paddles or snorkels, even though the human hand and feet are absolutely awful for propulsion? Or that rowers have to use oars instead of pedal-powered propellers? Or that you can't use a spring-loaded launch platform or booster rockets in the 100-meter dash . . .
Well, OK, maybe not that last one. But these are the sorts of things that run through my mind while watching the Olympics. And I think about how very, very different the whole thing would be if a lot of the arbitrary rules were, let us say, "relaxed" a bit.
After all, wouldn't *you* like to see a version of the 100-yard dash where the restrictions were a bare minimum? Like, for example, any apparatus you use has to be entirely human-powered, and not leave any bits behind as it travels, but otherwise anything goes? For starters, we'd probably see sprinters wearing something like these!
Used to jog on a track and was regularly lapped by a race walker. Just my one cent. (Not enough to make it two cents.)
ReplyDeleteI worry that one day they'll scrap the modern pentathlon and rhythmic gymnastics. My favorites!
My defense: It looks silly.
ReplyDeleteThere. That's it. Nothing else. Pretty shallow, huh?