If you trained for five years…

[CartyDurham]

Mate I'll have a bet with you that he won't respond to this.
Also, because I'm feeling generous I'll give you odds of 10/1.

Very tempting odds

 

[ashley bach]

Very tempting odds

Ha nah even 100/1 is no good....he's been banned.

 

[CartyDurham]

Ha nah even 100/1 is no good....he's been banned.

Bloody hell

 

[Coronis]

5 years is enough to get a PhD in breakdancing right?

 

[Furball]

Apparently there's been a survey done in the UK where 27% of those surveyed reckon if they trained for 4 years they could be on the plane to LA in 2028.

The results got roundly mocked on a running podcast I listen to (which features an ex GB Olympian at middle distance so he knows what's required to hit that standard), but I'm standing by my marathon comment earlier in the thread. If I was 10 years younger and in a position financially where I could quit work and train like an Olympian for 4 years I definitely think I could have got my marathon time down to one which would be a qualifying time. I'm under no illusions that a) this might not be good enough to get selected and b) if selected I'd be nowhere near medalling.

 

[Daemon]

It’s gotta be the cox guy on the rowing boat. Piss easy job.

 

[social]

Apparently there's been a survey done in the UK where 27% of those surveyed reckon if they trained for 4 years they could be on the plane to LA in 2028.

The results got roundly mocked on a running podcast I listen to (which features an ex GB Olympian at middle distance so he knows what's required to hit that standard), but I'm standing by my marathon comment earlier in the thread. If I was 10 years younger and in a position financially where I could quit work and train like an Olympian for 4 years I definitely think I could have got my marathon time down to one which would be a qualifying time. I'm under no illusions that a) this might not be good enough to get selected and b) if selected I'd be nowhere near medalling.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1822868318069338296

 

[Molehill]

I'm not sure which is the wildest stat, but the 9% who think they can take out the Chinese Table Tennis guys who have been playing it for 12 hours a day since they were like 3 is perhaps my fave!!

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Tbf, a good friend of mine took up rifle shooting. 500-1000 yards stuff - I can't tell you the exact thing, but long range shooting. Last year he was in the New Zealand team at the world champs. I guess he took it up about 7-8 years ago, but he had to stop it for about 2 years in the middle after suffering a serious concussion. So, it's not impossible for that to be an option.

I also read somewhere that the iconic Türkiye shooter only took the sport up in middle age.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I'm not sure which is the wildest stat, but the 9% who think they can take out the Chinese Table Tennis guys who have been playing it for 12 hours a day since they were like 3 is perhaps my fave!!

They're talking about qualifying, not winning a gold medal.

 

[Furball]

I can definitely see the logic behind people thinking they can do archery and rifle shooting to an Olympic standard, because neither sport really requires much in the way of traditional physical prowess to succeed.

 

[social]

They're talking about qualifying, not winning a gold medal.

6% of respondents said that they could qualify for the 100m sprint

Just for the record, EVERY GB woman has a best time under 11s and EVERY GB man is under 10s

No fkn way unless they planned to drive it

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Haha yeah I thought that was the most outrageous one. Surely that's an event where the genetic lottery is a huge factor.

 

[sledger]

Yowamushi Pedal taught me that you can go from being a complete n00b to the best cyclist in all of Japan (in your age group anyway) in like a year, so it's probably not a stretch to say you can go from complete amateur with no experience to Olympic champ in five years.

 

[Molehill]

Haha yeah I thought that was the most outrageous one. Surely that's an event where the genetic lottery is a huge factor.

I'm not sure how many of these really don't require a certain amount of success in the genetic lottery. You could argue that sitting on a horse isn't, but if you think you can learn how to dressage in 4 years then you're living on a different planet.

I'd probably say Show Jumping might be the most likely. It's the easiest of the Equestrian disciplines to learn and if you get the right horse, could be doable.

 

[Furball]

Haha yeah I thought that was the most outrageous one. Surely that's an event where the genetic lottery is a huge factor.

It's an interesting one because while I think most people will have some sort of genetic limit to their potential performance, I think the vast majority of people will hit their own limitations well before their genetics start.

Someone like Louie Hinchliffe doesn't look like a sprinter at all - he isn't particularly tall for one - yet he's won the NCAAs, won the UK championship and competed at the Olympics, running sub 10 in both his heat and his semi final.

I actually think it would make an interesting experiment to take one of the 6% who reckon they could do it and train them for 4 years to see how close they get.

 

[Coronis]

Yeah tbf shooting and archery seem like good shouts.

So does table tennis. Just follow the Forrest Gump program.

 

[Daemon]

imagine thinking you’d have any shot in swimming

 

[Molehill]

imagine thinking you’d have any shot in swimming

I can only assume that these people do at least have some kind of ability in these sports to suggest that they could make that level of improvement.

But I'm reminded of male scratch golfers thinking they could take out a female pro golfer (they can't). The gap between decent amateur and professional is way bigger than most seem to realise.

 

[Tom Flint]

I think a lot of people could get down to a 3 hour marathon if trained constantly for 5 years but getting down to sub 2 hour 20 no way