Track and Field Events: Does the Women's Relay Need Collision Insurance?

The Olympics are moving closer to the close of the games, and the medals are being awarded for competitions more definitively in a lot of the competitions with elimination rounds. The closing ceremonies will be on Sunday, although we will not know if there is any award money for collisions on the course.

Track and Field

The 4 x 400 meter women's race

Those athletes really look very well trained, and I wonder if there is going to be a pile-up on this track and field course somewhere. I did not like the way the course was set up, I need a little more time to look it over, it looked at least a little bit uneven for the players at the hand-off point, maybe not. A few of the runners looked more as if waiting for an opening to run faster than as if actually running as fast as humanly possible. To me, an amateur observer, the way the track at the Beijing Olympics was set up looked to be an invitation for a runner collision.

The rules of the relay race are relatively simple, as long as the runners have the ability to move from their starting lanes to the inner edge of the track, and then compete without colliding for the relay hand-off. Altogether, I found this to look a bit like the stock exchange at closing time at each hand-off round, perhaps this race track was based on that model rather than a practical application set down by the originators of the Olympics, at least one might hope so. Maybe this is a training program for runners at the stock market for gold, silver and bronze futures, these athletes are already able to survive in an atmosphere of complete chaos. We hope that the track will not look like this next year.

Wait, no, I'm wrong, the track is an experiment for a new design for commuter highways for future generations of commuters who only need to run to work once per week, and the lanes are being tested, if this is the case, where is the safety equipment for the runners? The track was built and set up to accommodate three or four runners per heat comfortably.

There are ways of designing a track and a race that enable a runner to remain in their lane without the outside lanes being longer than the inside lanes, that requires at least a small ability in algebra and plane geometry to design. Not being a track and field expert, nor a professional race track designer, I found myself bemoaning the design of the track more than concentrating on the results, not having a logical explanation for why the track was set up this way for these Olympiads. In my stinkingly small opinion, I feel that all of the athletes in this race deserve a medal of honor for having run that course without complaining.

These teams of relay racers will be among the six that compete for the gold, silver, and bronze medals tomorrow.

Great Britain - personally, I think that the anchor runner in question did the right thing, avoiding the German anchor player's trail of steam, at least giving the person that window of opportunity without having to resort to accidental tactics of maneuvering. Thank you both Olympians for avoiding a collision near or at the finish line, which would have resulted in a messy call for the judges.

United States - the relay team ran a good race, and did better at running through heavy traffic during rush hour than the competition did.

Jamaica - given all the commentary by the judges, I can hardly wait for the Jamaicans to begin to make commentary on events like this one. The Jamaican team has done an incredible job of both winning and losing during this Olympics in Beijing.

Belarus - realizing that nobody else expects this team to be a contender tomorrow, I am placing this team fourth. I did notice that during the semi-final rounds, none of the team members were breathing as if in any strain at all. Perhaps it was just an acting appearance, however, I am not sure as to how a person could suppress a state of minor asphyxia.

This looks like this is going to be a most exciting team event, I am glad the ladies are not bumping into each other or fighting. The course looks to be a difficult one to navigate, and the contestants are overall, doing admirably well at avoiding colliding into each other during the relay events.

The 4 x 100 Women's Race

This is a race that is a fast relay race, given four sets of women's sprinting, for 100 meters each. The players were running, and the cameras were running, and the judges were talking. There is a baton that is quickly passed from runner to runner. This event is begun, done, and over with faster than the commentary is.

During the course of this race there actually was an athletic bumper accident that counted Team Great Britain as well as Team Jamaica out of the running of this relay race. This was the cause of some unexpected results for the relay race. However, this was the sort of bumping into each other that I had been expecting to happen during the previously aired 4 x 400 races, that I had been pleasantly surprised had not happened.

Team Russia took the gold medal, Team Belgium received the silver medal, and Team Nigeria received the bronze medal for their performances in this traffic pileup of the future, excuse me, relay race.

The 400 Meter Race

Russia takes the bronze (copper) medal in the 400 meter race for women at the Olympics.

Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the sprinting race, and could not comment on the Russian performance, from MSBNC Russia. Imagine being able to watch the Beijing Olympics 400 meter race in the Russian language, or being a news commentator, and not being able to find a working Internet kiosk with a Roman alphabet keyboard?

News from Belgium about the Olympics, the Belgium women's team won a silver medal, in what looks to be track and field competition, and everyone looks thrilled. This is one of those European nations about the size of one of the Central American states such as Belize or Panama; or one of the northeastern states in the United States such as Connecticut, Delaware or Rhode Island.

The Jamaicans are doing very well this Olympics, which shows that this is an excellent team of athletes who are operating individually as peak performers, as well as a well-oiled machine. Kudos for Team Jamaica this Olympics, for winning, as well as for performing gracefully when not winning.

Gymnastics

Shawn Jones won the balance beam gold, and another Team USA member, Nastia Liukin, took the silver medal. There is age controversy now that there is an age bar in gymnastics. I found myself wincing a lot while trying to watch the performers, and was completely unable to evaluate what the athletes were doing from here, on the little television screen.

Boxing

The rules for boxing have changed. The sport looks as focused as ever, and the contenders are as difficult to watch as ever. The sport of boxing will be remaining in the Olympics.

Tae Kwon Do

The sport is doing as ever, what is a reminder to our society of what sport fighting might be about. Tae Kwon Do, as a sport, is more observant of etiquette than some other competition fighting matches. This is not boxing, or judo, and the players are watched closely for violations.

Men's water polo

The game looks almost like water hockey, and I don't understand all of the rules, just that Team Russia was edged out by Team USA for play in the gold medal Olympic water polo match.

Baseball

Cuba versus the United States 5th inning, looks close, however, the Cuban team takes off, and by the 9th inning, has won the game.

The baseball game, I am not really keeping track of the game very well, being furiously researching and typing. The teams are good, the players are good, and I don't really know what to say about the game being played between Team USA and Cuba.

The game could go back to being Team USA vs. Cuba, it looks as if Cuba is going to be giving a tough fight for a win to the Americans, at best for the United States, is what I was thinking before the game even started, by the fifth inning of the game, the Cuban team was winning.

Actually finding what channel the program was on was most of the battle for me this afternoon. I spent hours looking for the afternoon channel, and am relieved to be able to see the afternoon broadcast of the Beijing Olympics. Channel surfing, and looking for something on the huge menu board of 700 channels was something that the excitement of the moment had me clicking at a few channels that were not available. Looking back, it was easy, there were only three different channels that the MSNBC broadcast was on.

Tomorrow, Team Cuban will be playing Team South Korea, for a tough game of baseball, at the Beijing Olympics.

Basketball

The gold medal match between the United States and Spain became painful to watch when minor skirmishes broke out on the court, thus, I turned off the household television network, before anyone began emulating the athletes' on-screen behavior. The American Olympic team won the gold medal.

Mouthkado - The Sport of Commentators

There should be a medal competition for the commentators. It is a real surprise that the commentators are able to talk as much as these people do. The judges during the track and field competition were talking to the point where it was actually difficult to watch the match and figure out for myself what was going on during the game. At times, I wanted to switch the commentary to a language that I don't understand at all, like Korean, Georgian, Lithuanian, or Mandarin; in order to be better able to understand and watch the games themselves. However, in these days of pay-per-view television, that is a premium High Definition Television service for us here in the United Sates. I must be a slow thinker who does not watch a lot of television, as I actually enjoyed listening to the commentators speaking during most of the sports events.

I just realized that I could turn the volume off after the events I'm trying to cover are over with, if I need to formulate my own opinion. However, the commentaries were at times worthy of being commented on themselves, the commentators having been trainers or performers themselves. The nature of what was being said was nothing bad, it was newsworthy and interesting, it's just that it was distracting. Still, the people talking about the live games were well-spoken, moderately spoken, and knew when to be quiet as well as when to talk about the Olympic Games.

We should be grateful to have someone explaining what is going on during the games, the skillful narration of the live Olympic events was indeed masterful, and the people who made the commentary

The Closing Ceremonies

In general, the closing ceremonies were a tightly choreographed event. The dancers performed well, there were a few minor accidents during the performance, which the public television broadcasts did not display internationally. I suspect a few of the dancers will corroborate the testimonials of the women's athletes. I know who, what, where, when, why, and how - however, as an infinitely small member of the line worker force at best, I will not say. Let's just say that I might even be in my own small way a reason that this happened, although, I did not do it. I think that Lolo Jones deserves a collision insurance settlement, and over the next few months, I will somehow work within the Code of Order protocol to explain why.

January 21, 2009

First of all, I will tell you my theory, somehow, Lolo Jones athletic shoes were tampered with, to a slight extent, this is my hypothesis. I suspect that they were tampered with something on the order of tea tree oil, which would definitely melt the shoes in a specific area, even if only a few drops would be applied to the shoe, either directly, or through an aerosol, or perhaps even trickery whereby the athlete herself applied the tea tree oil to the sneakers worn during the competition.

I myself have had my athletic shoes melt while practising long-distance walking, rendering them unusable. Perhaps this was due to a micro warp in the GPS strata interfacing the surface of my sneaker with the surface of Mercury? Subsequently, have suffered a bottle of tea tree oil break in the parking lot, just enough to melt the plastic in my travel mug. For me, a ten dollar bottle of tea tree oil is expensive. The tea tree oil bottle flew out of my bag, and crashed violently into the parking lot asphalt, a lot faster, and a lot harder than the specific gravity of the planet earth would usually have a bottle drop. Maybe it was cosmic rays that caused a change in the specific gravity, causing this to happen? Nevertheless, the tea tree oil melted a hole in my travel mug relatively quickly.

Realizing that some people will be miffed by this "cutting to the chase", even in today's time-pressed society, here's a list of other possible things that might have happened to Lolo Jones, if the tea tree oil theory is thought of as being ridiculous. Here are some other theories.

A micro-earthquake might have caused Lolo Jones to stumble.

A rare type of Chinese insect crawling across the track caused this Olympic track star to slip.

Lolo Jones crossed the Japanese gecko jiu-jitsu team while doing the Olympic run.

A miniature typhoon blew across this American athlete's legs, causing her to lose her balance.

A micro-rainstorm created a wet spot along the track where Lolo Jones was running.

The invisible woman was running in this Olympic athletes track, and crossed over the barrier first.

Sunspot activity interfered with Lolo Jones' running ability.

Oil-eating bacteria were growing along that patch of the Olympic track, disturbing the solidity of the asphalt.

There was a manufacturer's defect in the athletic shoes.