Olympics Paris 2024

46 watchers
Nellers
Nellers
8 Aug
9:18am, 8 Aug 2024
43,538 posts
  •  
  • 0
Nellers
Is that the Lucy Davis clip G? It's great isn't it, and they're not just bods off their sofas. They're actual proper regular runners.

On that note we had a discussion on the swimming thread about Eric the Eel the other week. Everyone remembers Eric don't they? The Equatorial Guinea swimmer at the 2000 Olympics who was left way behind all the others and "nearly drowned" because he couldn't really swim and what's he doing in there if he's that bad? Isn't it funny? Ha ha.

I checked. He swam a 100m freestyle in 1:52. That's shifting. It's not world class by quite a margin but it's not someone who can't really swim.

Fetch has a badge for beating it. There's a lot of regular decent swimmers on Fetch. Only 31 have beaten Eric's time. If Eric had turned up at your local pool for a session he'd have been the fastest one in there, or one of them.

And he was mullered by the top blokes, which goes to show the gulf in ability between the muppets on the sofa shouting "He's rubbish" when they see an Olympian get beaten, and the front of the race in any event.
Nellers
Nellers
8 Aug
9:23am, 8 Aug 2024
43,539 posts
  •  
  • 0
Nellers
https://youtu.be/4fllYaaBTXA?si=BAvVfr9_Dgq_rIWo
SPR
SPR
8 Aug
9:30am, 8 Aug 2024
45,570 posts
  •  
  • 0
SPR
Re the comment about going at 200, I want to reiterate it wasn't possible in this race so it's a what could have been if Ingebrigtsen wasn't in the way or was able to run the bend faster. The reason it could make a difference is different strengths of the runners. Kerr might be able to hold speed for longer without having the top end of Hocker. The other thing with this particular race was Kerr and Ingebrigtsen had a gap to Hocker coming into 200 to go and Kerr wanted to go at that point but just couldn't (Ingebrigtsen went wide to stop him then came back in as Hocker caught up), maintaining that gap may have meant he had just enough even if Hocker was faster.
jda
jda
8 Aug
9:32am, 8 Aug 2024
17,606 posts
  •  
  • 0
jda
Agree he'd comfortably swim in the fast lane in our local pool, but so do I (and my wife is quicker). But it's not a decent club speed at all, it really is quite a poor swimmer who's trying his best. There must be far far more swimmers here who could get the badge if they tried.
Cheg
Cheg
8 Aug
9:35am, 8 Aug 2024
4,363 posts
  •  
  • 0
Cheg
On the 100m swim times this looks quite interesting. Not sure how legit it is:

conditionandnutrition.com
Nellers
Nellers
8 Aug
9:46am, 8 Aug 2024
43,540 posts
  •  
  • 0
Nellers
@jda I wasn't comparing him to decent club swimmers. More to the guys sat on their sofa shouting "He's crap!" at him, because he was way quicker than any of them.

Also worth noting that 4 years later he swam a 56 second 100m, because by then he'd been given some coaching and access to a 50m pool. He was actually a decent athlete, just massively under-trained for the 2000 games.
SPR
SPR
8 Aug
9:49am, 8 Aug 2024
45,571 posts
  •  
  • 0
SPR
TBF the comparison is to elites which is what you expect at the games.
Nellers
Nellers
8 Aug
9:49am, 8 Aug 2024
43,541 posts
  •  
  • 0
Nellers
@Cheg I'd say that's probably about right if you're looking at the whole population rather than just people who swim regularly. I'd think most blokes who swim regularly and can do Freestyle could get under 2 minutes. Doing freestyle, and being able to breath properly while doing it, is the big divide there I'd think. Head up freestyle isn't going to get you under 2 minutes without an awful lot of power being applied.
Cheg
Cheg
8 Aug
9:53am, 8 Aug 2024
4,364 posts
  •  
  • 0
Cheg
There is often the talk come Olympics time of wanting the average Joe to run in lane 9 for comparison purposes.

This Olympics has been good for showing that even among the elite there are levels. You watch the best showjumpers and they all start going clear, and you think maybe this isn't so tough.

Then the next rider knocks over three fences, the following one has its horse refuse and they get thrown off the front, and you realise these guys are world class.
Nellers
Nellers
8 Aug
10:02am, 8 Aug 2024
43,542 posts
  •  
  • 0
Nellers
That's kind of my point though, @SPR . Eric was an extreme outlier. He qualified through a wildcard system. He was massively outclassed but he wasn't rubbish.

The guys getting lapped in the 10k would win almost any parkrun on any Saturday if they turned up. The swimmers who go out in the first round would be dangerously fast in the fast lane of any pool. The cyclists who were dropped in first lap of the road race (I don't know if any were actually) are going to tear any club run apart if they chose to. Etc etc.

I always smile when someone says "Oh that was rubbish!" about anyone at the Olympics doing anything. Just by being at the Olympics it pretty much guarantees that it absolutely wasn't rubbish even if it only got last place, but if you're comparing them to the winners they look pedestrian.

About This Thread

Maintained by Curly45
Couldn't find a thread so thought I would start one.

Who else is off to watch or who is watching at home?

We're doing Lille and Paris and a mix of sports. Currently trying to find travel insurance that includes ticket cancellation as some of the trains in the UK might be difficult and we have some internal French trains to do as well.

Also need to work out the new Paris metro ticket/app combo (Navigo I think).

Related Threads

  • olympics









Back To Top
X

Free training & racing tools for runners, cyclists, swimmers & walkers.

Fetcheveryone lets you analyse your training, find races, plot routes, chat in our forum, get advice, play games - and more! Nothing is behind a paywall, and it'll stay that way thanks to our awesome community!
Get Started
Click here to join 113,159 Fetchies!
Already a Fetchie? Sign in here