50 K race walk

I watched the women's 20K yesterday (which they showed in entirety on MSNBC). They said the rules are that you had to have one foot on the ground at all times, and you had to fully extend your leg in front of you.

The catch is, it has to be visually apparent, to the naked eye in real time. They showed a slow mo of one of the walers feet, and she clearly had two feet off the ground. BUt when not in slo-mo, you can't tell.

mine was around 7:30 .  Well some of it was sorta running, hobbling, stumbling and slow walking.

Still His race walk is faster than my marathon RUN.....Just sounds so wrong.

Denise2003 - 2008-08-22 9:48 AM I think you are right about 1 foot always on the ground bit. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't groove like them! OT: Does anybody remember an episode in Malcolm in the Middle in which Malcolm's dad discovered his secret talent in race walking and he started racing in full race walking outfit around the neighborhood? (full body spandex and the aero helmet)

yep, I miss that show it was hilarious

Yes, has been for a long while. 

Not easy to "walk" - as one of your feet must be touching the ground at all times.  Funny to see how their butts move. 

                             5K               5M                10K            10M               13.1

I 'm not sure If I can do an 8:17 split one time running..   Amazing.

Probably there are lots. Swimming comes to mind, though. Freestyle (the crawl stroke specifically) is faster than breaststroke, but in a breaststroke race, you're limited to the specific definition of that stroke...you can't just get to the end of the pool any old way--do the crawl and your DQed.

Good point... in basketball, for example, it would be quicker if you could just pick up the d@mn ball and cradle it in one arm, and give the defenders the stiff arm, as you sprint down the court towards the hoop.  Another example of a restriction that imposes a limitation of speed.  Tut, tut.

Or in soccer?  What's up with soccer?  No hands??  It would be so much easier (and faster) if you could also pick up the ball and run with it.  Alas, you can't. 

And finally, there's boxing.  I guarantee you that I could medal, if I was just allowed to give my opponent a nice swift kick in the boys.

I hate these arbitrary restrictions on my technique.  Otherwise dude, I'd have those eight golds hanging round my neck, guaranteed. 

Pretty much. Specifically it's to prevent you from keeping on guy down field and if you get the ball passing it to him so he can take a shot on goal.  Same thing in hockey.

Saw this on the NBC site... pretty funny...

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0823_SD_MUL_AU_CE525