Re: t-and-f: Re: Women's Decathlon
Hello Roger, others, I think this is not really something to be surprised about. When the formal introduction of the female decathlon was first introduced, there was an overwhelming opinion among top trainers and athletes AGAINST the whole thing. One argument for this was injuries: if you count the amount of meetings missed by top heptathletes over the years, it is really disturbing (even more, it seems, than top decathletes). But another argument is more 'philosophical'. Or, as Carolina Klüft very poignantly (sp?) said it during one press conference in Helsinki this summer: 'I am against replacing the heptathlon by the decathlon. And if people are so adamant about the men and the women doing the same event: why not the other way around? (so replacing the male decathlon by the heptathlon)' On top of that: as long as the heptathlon is the event where the championships, medals, and money (as modest as it is - but I am also talking federation/olympic/government support systems)) is distributed, many heptathletes will not do many decathlons. As I have learnt from themselves: doing 3-5 heptathlons a season (May-September) is difficult enough. And recuperating from a decathlon is a lot harder - taking an even bigger bite out of ones season. Regards, Wilmar - Original Message - From: Roger Ruth [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2005 7:07 pm Subject: t-and-f: Re: Women's Decathlon Does anyone share my surprise at the lack of interest in organizing women's decathlon competitions? Both Jalava, in his world deep list, and Castellini, in his IAAF top list, show only one meet having been held this season. That was when Austra Skujyte of Lithuania set a new world record at Columbia, MO, on April 15. On the other hand, just scanning Jalava's heptathlon list, I quickly counted more than fifty hept meets. I 'd have thought lots of heptathlon athletes would be eager to set initial national records for the decathlon. Is there just not that interest by the athletes, or are meet organizers reluctant to add to the weight of their already busy schedules? Any thoughts on the matter?
Re: t-and-f: Re: Women's Decathlon
Has anyone studied why (and if, truly) the decathlon would be relatively harder on women than other events like the steeple, marathon, hurdles, etc.? I've never seen anything in the training of individual decathletes and heptathletes that would lead me to that conclusion. If women want equality across the board, they ought to step up to the plate and take on the same workload. [flame suit on] Dan http://AbleDesign.com - Web Design Custom Programming http://Run-Down.com - 10,000 Running Links, Fantasy TF @o Dan Kaplan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] |\/ ^- ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) _/ \ \/\ (503)370-9969 phone/fax / / __ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: t-and-f: Re: Women's Decathlon
Maybe there are fewer women contesting hepthalons compared to men contesting decathlons so any one injury is affecting a larger % of the total? Does that make sense? Tom On Oct 7, 2005, at 8:00 PM, Dan Kaplan wrote: Has anyone studied why (and if, truly) the decathlon would be relatively harder on women than other events like the steeple, marathon, hurdles, etc.? I've never seen anything in the training of individual decathletes and heptathletes that would lead me to that conclusion. If women want equality across the board, they ought to step up to the plate and take on the same workload. [flame suit on] Dan http://AbleDesign.com - Web Design Custom Programming http://Run-Down.com - 10,000 Running Links, Fantasy TF @o Dan Kaplan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] |\/ ^- ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) _/ \ \/\ (503)370-9969 phone/fax / / __ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: t-and-f: Re: Women's Decathlon
Crud, I lost my reply just before sending it... I could buy that, to an extent, but what then of something like the steeple, which has transitioned away from softer standards (shorter/shallower pit) with no resistance that I'm aware of? What I'd be curious to see is the results of a detailed survey among female elite heptathletes. Things like would they be in favor of running the 1500 instead of the 800, the pole vault instead of the high jump, 400 instead of the 200, etc.? Dan --- Tom Derderian [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Maybe there are fewer women contesting hepthalons compared to men contesting decathlons so any one injury is affecting a larger % of the total? Does that make sense? Tom http://AbleDesign.com - Web Design Custom Programming http://Run-Down.com - 10,000 Running Links, Fantasy TF @o Dan Kaplan - [EMAIL PROTECTED] |\/ ^- ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) _/ \ \/\ (503)370-9969 phone/fax / / __ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com
