This week I thought it would be interesting to research about the Olympic sport of speed walking. It never occurred to me that this was an actual event in the Olympic games until recently. Speed walking was officially introduced at the 1932 Olympic games where they only competed the 50km. After a few years of declaring the rules and qualifications for this sport they re-entered the standard Olympic road walking distances of 20km and 50km, which has been a part of the Olympics since 1956. The 50km race was eliminated because of the many irregularities, which happened for the 1976 games. Both men and women compete in the 20km race. The race walking judges pay close attention during races to see if competitors cross the line from walking to running during the race. This means that the athlete’s front foot must be touching the ground while their rear foot is lifted in the air. During a race any single judge is allowed to hold up a yellow card, which means that they feel the competitor is not abiding by the rules. However, if they athlete doesn’t do anything about the way they are competing the same judge is not allowed to give them another warning. Another judge on the panel can only distribute this next warning, which can be a red card. Three red cards result in a disqualification. This Olympic event normally takes place on roads. This prohibits these athletes from setting world records because only times that are set on tracks are eligible. When a race walker competes they must make sure that they straighten each leg when it first comes in contact with the ground. In order to complete a race their whole torso crosses the finish line. After reading much about this sport I found a lot of articles that explain it as being a difficult event because of the rules. They are trying to walk as quickly as possible while making sure they are maintaining contact with the ground at all times. Many don’t see the point in a sport like this however I though it was quite interesting to read the level of competitiveness on this sport. In one of my classes exercise physiology we have a lab where we have to walk 5.0 for 3 minutes. This was extremely difficult and very hard to maintain this speed without lifting my feet off the treadmill. My legs were moving so quick that it was a very uncomforting and exhausting feeling. I think this is an interesting sport to watch because I don’t know much about it. I hope you enjoy the clip and it will be interesting to see how this sport develops in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment