Sub 1:30 Half Marathon 2021 Edition (Read 448 times)

I was going to watch rugby until I realized everyone here is more interested in cricket. I DID think of my internet friends when the mountain biker from New Zealand was up near the front of the main event. They didn't say much but I'm sure if he was in the lead it would be non-stop "if he wins it will be the contry's FIRST gold medal in Mountain Biking. He needs to hold off the Swiss. It will be the FIRST medal." I did smile when they called him a Kiwi.

 I think 5 golds would be a good haul for us.  We'll rely on rowing, kayaking, sailing, women's "rugby" and maybe shotput to get them.

You also have Tim and Jonelle Price in eventing.  Not impossible for one of them to claim individual gold - each has a decent shot at a medal of some color.

dw - Yep, that would be a bonus if gold but a medal of some colour is possible from them.  My partner is a dressage rider...I have watched a lot of dressage in the last few days.  It's very impressive, and looks very tough going in that heat both for the horse and the rider forced to wear those clothes.  She doesn't want to watch the dressage in the eventing because apparently the standard is much lower.  She's also not a fan of Jonelle Price for some reason I don't 100% understand.  It sounds like there's a lot of "interesting" characters around the traps in Equestrian 

Dressage is extremely hard work for the rider and the horse.  Biceps, abs, and thighs of steel.  Those dressage horses can really really pull.

I did showjumping myself, but took a few dressage lessons along the way.

As for eventing, it's basically the equivalent of doing a balance beam gymnastics routine on the first day, then racing a half-marathon on a hilly course the second day, before running the 110 meter hurdles on the third day.  For obvious reasons, the performances on the first and third days are of lower quality than if done as stand alone sports.  When I was competing in showjumping, I jumped fences significantly higher than what they jump on the third day of eventing.  But....I did it on a rested horse that specialized in that type of competition.

But yes, I can see why a serious dressage person might find eventing dressage boring.  Just as a serious gymnast wouldn't want to watch a bunch of runners carefully walking back and forth on the beam and occasionally balancing on one foot.

As for the crazy...in my life I've been involved in the lawyer world, the goth-industrial music world, the running world, and the equestrian world.  Equestrians are the craziest, and it's not even close.  (the goths are the sanest).

darkwave - She often talks about rich, stuck up, bitchy middle aged women (DEFINITELY her words, not mine).  She used to do showjumping too.  She's had a few serious accidents in her time so is often in pain from ancient injuries.  At the moment we're trying to find her a new horse, but it's been a few years of looking.  The market is very limited here, especially for a talented dressage horse or even a decent now horse.  I recently got a small inheritance from my Grandma and I want to put some of it towards making sure she gets a horse she can work with.  I definitely want to see her riding regularly again for her sanity - it's not all noble though, it will reduce her spare time that is often filled up with things involving me that I don't necessarily enjoy.

Mark - I agree, it's more of a commonwealth games sport.  Our best gold haul was LA I think, but obviously not a full strength Olympics.

We also have Lauren Hubbard in the women's weightlifting.

He should do well 

 

And in fun NZ trivia that will amuse the non-NZers on here, he / she went to my high school, was a few years older than me though.  It was a boys-only school.  Also the son / daughter of a former Auckland mayor.

 

Anyway, in my opinion someone born as a biological male has years of musculoskeletal development as a male which will tend to give them a significant advantage in sports relying on muscular strength or speed.  They arguably need their own category.  Anyway I'm not sure us men are allowed to have opinions on such things any more but interestingly a number of NZ's elite female runners have the same view.

As currently the only regular female poster in this thread (there are others, but all inactive),I give you permission to opine on this topic.  (not that you needed it, IMHO).

I don't feel qualified to comment on Hubbard just because I don't know enough about competitive weightlifting to know what is fair here.  I have opinions on transgender athletes in distance running and equestrian because those are the two sports I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in.

(distance running - allow them as long as they've met the set hormonal standards; equestrian - there's no distinction between the sexes in that sport, so who cares!)

The only thing I know about horses i learned from memes

What's the first thought that crosses your minds when you read this?

 

Twigg won her semifinal on Thursday to be the fastest sculler into the final – but among her rivals is a rower who has come out of nowhere following a decade of middling form.

Hanna Prakatsen has taken the rowing world by storm this year, being undefeated in 11 races at elite level – her first as a single sculler.

Same thing as Flora Duffy in the Triathlon. Woman was a great force in the sport, took some time off to get stuff cleared up and figured out, then came back with a passion to win and trained harder than anyone else.

Hanna Prakatsen is a Russian and when HAVEN'T Russians been suspected of doping. Next you'll say Chinese athletes are cheating in the Olympics. If you ain't "cheatin" you ain't trying. Rules are just there for guidelines of what you shouldn't do anyways. If someone doesn't accuse a podium finisher of cheating the athlete on the podium is probably doing something wrong.  If you win 11 times in a row and it isn't even close of course you're going to be called a cheater. Heck, in motocross all people had to do to win was a backflip for years. I'm sure they were called cheaters and the best way to silence a cheater is to beat them.