If you trained for five years…

[Uppercut]

I think I could.

Whether I'd want to put in the work required to do so is a different matter.

I was talking to someone who got very close for middle distance running in his 20s. He said the most common barrier isn’t potential max cardio, it’s the injuries. Most people’s joints can’t handle the training regime that would get them to that kind of level. It’s a weak link system, when you do the training you find out which part of your body wasn’t built to hack it. For me it’s my hips and hamstrings that tap out first, and I’m guessing for you it’s your knees?

 

[sledger]

Yeah I can believe that tbh. Doing 4km about four to five times a week would regularly leave my shins in absolute agony before I invested in some better shoes. And even with them I think doing it more than this would probably be a push. So god knows how bad it must be when you're doing this sort of **** multiple times every day.

 

[social]

I was talking to someone who got very close for middle distance running in his 20s. He said the most common barrier isn’t potential max cardio, it’s the injuries. Most people’s joints can’t handle the training regime that would get them to that kind of level. It’s a weak link system, when you do the training you find out which part of your body wasn’t built to hack it. For me it’s my hips and hamstrings that tap out first, and I’m guessing for you it’s your knees?

A mate’s son is close friends with Peyton Craig, 19yo Aussie who was unlucky not to make the 800m final

Hate to break it to you but he’s a genetic freak who’s a national level swimmer, triathlete and rugby league player for his age

 

[Furball]

A mate’s son is close friends with Peyton Craig, 19yo Aussie who was unlucky not to make the 800m final

Hate to break it to you but he’s a genetic freak who’s a national level swimmer, triathlete and rugby league player for his age

This isn't as impressive as it sounds because a lot of sporting ability translates to a degree across disciplines. There's plenty of cricketers, footballers and rugby players from Lancashire and Yorkshire who have been talented at both and who have had to pick one sport to focus on as they've moved through their teens.

It would be very rare to find someone who was world class at one sport and completely incompetent at anything else.

 

[Coronis]

This isn't as impressive as it sounds because a lot of sporting ability translates to a degree across disciplines. There's plenty of cricketers, footballers and rugby players from Lancashire and Yorkshire who have been talented at both and who have had to pick one sport to focus on as they've moved through their teens.

It would be very rare to find someone who was world class at one sport and completely incompetent at anything else.

Though it sure can look that way for some specialists in triathlons

 

[Furball]

I was talking to someone who got very close for middle distance running in his 20s. He said the most common barrier isn’t potential max cardio, it’s the injuries. Most people’s joints can’t handle the training regime that would get them to that kind of level. It’s a weak link system, when you do the training you find out which part of your body wasn’t built to hack it. For me it’s my hips and hamstrings that tap out first, and I’m guessing for you it’s your knees?

I've actually never had a major issue with my knee post-op when running. The worst that I'll get is a bit of swelling after a long run but it doesn't need anything beyond a bit of ice for 10 minutes.

My weakness is my left ankle, which has gotten progressively weaker as I've aged, and was a severely limiting factor throughout most of my mid 30s. Between about 2017 and 2021 my running story was basically months of dormancy, followed by 'I should really get back to running', building back up to being able to run around 5k then spraining my ankle by going over on it.

I've solved that issue by wearing an ankle brace when I run (same brand as Andy Murray wears) and I don't have issues with it any more. I'm not actually sure to what extent I actually need the brace, but I'm not prepared to find that out.

 

[Tom Flint]

This isn't as impressive as it sounds because a lot of sporting ability translates to a degree across disciplines. There's plenty of cricketers, footballers and rugby players from Lancashire and Yorkshire who have been talented at both and who have had to pick one sport to focus on as they've moved through their teens.

It would be very rare to find someone who was world class at one sport and completely incompetent at anything else.

I can imagine a lot of cricketers being this. Andrew Strauss, Ashwin, murali. Unless they are good at something weird like ping pong.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I think you could train for 5 minutes and score 0 in breakdancing. Anyone can be an epileptic slug rolling in salt (well I presume that was what the move was called)

 

[Ali TT]

I can imagine a lot of cricketers being this. Andrew Strauss, Ashwin, murali. Unless they are good at something weird like ping pong.

Golf, it's always golf

 

[Fuller Pilch]

If they brought it in competitive eating I'd back myself.

 

[Ali TT]

I've actually never had a major issue with my knee post-op when running. The worst that I'll get is a bit of swelling after a long run but it doesn't need anything beyond a bit of ice for 10 minutes.

My weakness is my left ankle, which has gotten progressively weaker as I've aged, and was a severely limiting factor throughout most of my mid 30s. Between about 2017 and 2021 my running story was basically months of dormancy, followed by 'I should really get back to running', building back up to being able to run around 5k then spraining my ankle by going over on it.

I've solved that issue by wearing an ankle brace when I run (same brand as Andy Murray wears) and I don't have issues with it any more. I'm not actually sure to what extent I actually need the brace, but I'm not prepared to find that out.

Just to reaffirm this conversation, one of the British women runners has just revealed she pretty much ran the whole race with a broken hip, and still came in under 3h.

I think there's a missing piece in thinking about what sport you could train for, and that's the mental side - ie just the single-mindedness to sacrifice so much in the relentless pursuit of perfecting a physical skill.

 

[social]

Just to reaffirm this conversation, one of the British women runners has just revealed she pretty much ran the whole race with a broken hip, and still came in under 3h.

I think there's a missing piece in thinking about what sport you could train for, and that's the mental side - ie just the single-mindedness to sacrifice so much in the relentless pursuit of perfecting a physical skill.

Yep

Even relatively simple stuff like adhering to a certain diet for a relatively short period is beyond most people

Djokovic has apparently lived on a spartan diet for years with hardly a break

 

[Coronis]

I think you could train for 5 minutes and score 0 in breakdancing. Anyone can be an epileptic slug rolling in salt (well I presume that was what the move was called)

I’ve gotta be real, I’m thinking the Aussie people in charge of it just put the worst candidate in because similarly to most of us they thought breakdancing in the Olympics were stupid and we wouldn’t win anyway so make the point lol.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

The problem is it was actually quite fun.

 

[Molehill]

[

The problem is it was actually quite fun.

So is drinking 6 pints and taking the piss out of your mates, doesn’t make it an Olympic Sport (heads to invent a new sport thread).

 

[sledger]

I mean it's no more (or less) stupid than any other sport (most of which can be boiled down to grown men and women in silly outfits swatting little balls about) when you think about it tbh.

 

[Molehill]

I mean it's no more (or less) stupid than any other sport (most of which can be boiled down to grown men and women in silly outfits swatting little balls about) when you think about it tbh.

A fella on C247 who is sadly no longer with us used to define sports as something that can’t be judged and not a method of getting somewhere. That would largely kill off most of the Olympics!!

 

[sledger]

A fella on C247 who is sadly no longer with us used to define sports as something that can’t be judged and not a method of getting somewhere. That would largely kill off most of the Olympics!!

And all motorsport and most winter sports tbh.

 

[Molehill]

And all motorsport and most winter sports tbh.

It was just his way of restricting the world to largely his loves of cricket, tennis and football (non-league).

 

[Daemon]

The problem is it was actually quite fun.

I wonder what the breaking community thinks? Some of them didn’t want it because it’s just never existed in the form the olympics wanted. The others who participated, including the judges clearly found it acceptable.

Would be like telling cricket hey we’ll let you in but only if you play T10s.