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Tuesday 20 September 2022

Jumper



5 comments:

wiggiatlarge said...

It is interesting within certain athletic sports how technological advances are thwarted as being unfair, in many cases with justification, yet the pole vault uses fibre poles which catapault the jumper to ever increasing heights and that was allowed over the original rigid poles, which logically should have been retained.
The high jump has allowed various methods such as the Fosbury Flop to be used, and I could give other so called advnces which end up being cancelled out once everyone follows suit.

Sam Vega said...

That's amazing.

It makes me think that this athletic stuff initially occurs because of high spirits, testosterone, and the desire to impress. The rules are imposed to ensure fairness (and safety, of course!) but a certain dullness creeps in as competitors study and train to gain millimetres and lose hundredths of a second.

And while they are doing that, the free spirits are doing parkour, free running, climbing skyscrapers, taking on bears with knives, and cycling off viaducts.

Doonhamer said...

Graeme Obree's bike and riding position.
Too many Formula One tweaks to mention.
Big balls.
Men masquerading as women.

Scrobs. said...

I can get up the steepest hill around here on my electric bike!

It is a bugger of a hill, and a hundred yards of gasp on full power even taxes the little engine to its absolute limit!

And as the bike is six years old, I'd rather keep it working normally than striving to make me feel wanted...

A K Haart said...

Wiggia - I agree, those fibre poles make pole vaulting heights seem artificial, more so than most athletic sports.

Sam - yes, a certain dullness does creep in as sports pursue small improvements within a tightly controlled formula. The free spirits keep moving on though, which is good. Knife fighting certainly seems popular in London.

Doonhamer - it still surprises me that men masquerading as women don't appear to feel at least some sense of shame. Apparently not though.

Scrobs - we see lots of electric bikes on Derbyshire trails. As the trails are fairly flat, I imagine they can go a long way on one charge.