Story goes that the Triathlon was invented when a cyclist, a swimmer and a sprinter were arguing in a bar in Hawaii which one of their sports was more demanding, the bartender commented that if they merged all three sports, then they would have the most demanding sport ever. A few days later the first Triathlon was underway, and none of the three "inventors" won, but some native Hawaiian did.
The first Triathlon was held in San Diego, CA in 1974 by the San Diego Track Club. It was setup as alternate training for swimmers and runners. Forty-six participants took part in that first Triathlon. Two of the participants were a Naval Officer and his wife. They would start the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon in 1978. By the 1980's Triathlon had became the fastest growing sport in the world. In 1988 the International Olympic Committee wanted to add the new sport to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, but that would have required Triathlon to be governed by the pentathlon federation. Many in the Triathlon community did not like that path and wanted the new sport to have its own governing body. In 1989 the ITU was founded as the international governing body of the sport. In 1996 the IOC voted to add Triathlon to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. So there you go, the history of Triathlon.
i remember watching this and thinking that the Swiss looked like she was going to drop in the run. It was agony just watching this - let alone running it. This is PAIN!!
For the British people who thinks this is easy to mistake, then imagine if someone called a CLEARLY Scottish colored athlete with "SCO" on her clothes. "Welsh" :)
4:31 51.1 millions cm is equal to 515 km. So you're saying that they traveled 515 km in 2 hours averaging at around 250km/h... I think you meant 5.15 million cm which is 51.5 km.
Torso across the line is what stops the clock. The finish tape is the final measure of who wins. Used as a last resort when everything else shows a dead heat. The Swiss woman barely hit the tape before the Swede. Amazing that a race of such a long distance could end up with a finish so close.
You can only measure time differences down to a certain level of precision. It is possible though unlikely that two people finish with a time difference less than what is measurable.
@@tennis5126 sure, arguing that 2 triathletes who finished within 1ms from each other should be given the same time is the same as saying everyone should be given the same time. Genius.
So glad triathlons are in the Olympics. Does anyone know why we don't have cross country running or "mixed doubles" track relays (2 men and 2 women running a 4x100)?
because it would only add more unnecessary events to an already overpacked discipline. it would not be fair that countries can ramp up their medal count just by dominating in 1 sport. another example of a ridiculously overpacked discipline is swimming. there are too many unnecessary categories there. just look at freestyle swimming. it has 6 events in it. what is the point of having a distinct 50 m freestyle event and a 100 m freestyle event, while rythmic gymnastics as a whole only has two events. my suggestion is cut down the swimming events (especially freestyle) so it matches up with running (100 m, 200 m, and a long one like 1500 m). oh, and erase breaststroke as a whole because what is the point of racing with the slowest swimming style.
That’s because people actually want to watch the swimming. Never in my live have I heard anyone say do you know what’s sounds like a good idea let’s watch rhythmic gymnastics haha
@@eduarddv00 oh and tell me have you ever swum all of the events? have you ever thought that breaststroke requires the most difficult technique and a lot of strength? before you say anything, better know what you're talking about
You could say “a triathlon is sooo long what a coincidence they finished in a near identical fashion.” But if you think abt it as a marathon, cuz they finish the cycling around the same time. Also they pushed each other to pass the other in the sprint finish... if they had been running without knowledge of the other’s position it might not have been so close.
An olympic triathlon consists of 1.5km swimming 40km biking and 10km running, which sums up to 51.5km which is 5.15 million cm and NOT 51.5 million cm. Unless they ran 10 triathlons in 2 hrs, your numbers are inaccurate to say the least.
Exactly! The presenter in the video gets it completely wrong when he says the olympic triathlon is "designed" to smash the field. WRONG! Never heard of packs in cycling huh? Most of the time they always start the run together in one big bunch.
Sound Speed! The cycling doesn't tend to smash the field, but the swim and run sure do. If you have a weak swim, its over. Otherwise all 50 or so racers would be starting running at once
Yeah but most people get out of the swim kinda close ish together, and if you're too far ahead there is no point riding out hard by yourself on the bike leg! So they hang back and join the pack for the draft legal bike racing. So it all comes down to the run! Should return back to the original ways when drafting was banned
The winner is determined using a highly precise electronic timing and photo finish system. The first competitor who has any part of her torso touch the vertical plane in line with the front edge of the finish line is the winner. These electronic systems are so precise, and extremely well established. There is no subjectivity involved so the determination of a winner is never controversial.
@@CharmsDad Why is it torso? Why isn't it any part of your body, including your head? I'm pretty sure that in sprinting it's the head because runners always fling their heads forward at the end.
Cycling races can be just as tight. They can race over 100 miles over 5 or 6 hours and the winner often wins by the width of a tire. Most big pro races have special technology that can detect close finishes like that.
What is the rule on a photo finish: a) the first to cross the finish line with any part of the body, i.e., a foot or a hand? b) the first one to cross the finish line with his/her torso? or 3) the first one to cross the finish line with hs/her whole body?
Close finishes are actually not that rare in draft legal triathlons. Because drafting saves energy, the front pack get off the bike almost at the same time. The faster runners then usually form a smaller front pack on the run, with sprint finish to determine the winners. It’s false to say a long distance sport can not have close finishes. Cycling races that are over 100 miles are usually determined by the final sprint with milliseconds separating the winners.
I don't know which meet it was, but in a 500 yard freestyle(swimming). There was a tie and there had to be a swim-off which is where you and the other person has to swim again.
how small a diff is no diff?...as tech improves we will be able to detect even smaller differences but is it really the spirit of the game? where do we draw the line...amazing race...
A protest was submitted that the referee reads the photo finish incorrectly and a protest was submitted to the Cas, which agreed but they could not change the result.
This raises the question: Should the fastest athlete win or the first over the finish. The latter we can determine with the finish photo. The first however we can not. Although the race is equal for everyone that is only valid to a certain accuracy level. Distances from start to first buoy differ, distance to the starters pistol differ etc etc
in my opinion, speed isn't the only thing that counts- technique is also a part of the game. taking the inside of corners, drafting, etc. so i think the first over the finish should win
@@magnolialang5217 I fully agree with that, with fastest I mean the one who completes the course in the least time, but getting a better start position, closer to the starters pistol, is not something an athlete can influence.
India had lost two athletic medals (could've been the first athletic medal ever) by milliseconds. One by PT Usha (1984 LA, 400m hurdles. Lost bronze by one 100th of a second) and another by Milkha Singh (1960 Rome. 400m men's, lost bronze by 0.1 second). We had to wait till 2020 Tokyo to compensate all that through Neeraj Chopra's Gold.
The winner is determined by the finish line photo generated by the electronic timing system. The first one to reach the finish line gets the hold, no matter how large of small the margin of victory may be.
No the distance doesn’t matter, it’s a different race each time because they would stick with a group if one ran ahead they might win and might fall back
If someone is faster, he is faster and that makes him/her the rightful winner. And even if 1st place is given to both there will still be one of them who is the only rightful winner of both. It's pretty much impossible to finish on a tie.
Oh I think they meant if this percentage was translated to a 100m sprint, the difference would have been about a hair’s breadth! For the actual difference in this triathlon, it was about 2cm.
I would say the woman in the black one because she actually touched the ribbon first. it was a dead tie when they actually crossed the line itself so i say go to the next best thing. Also, her foot was down a millisecond before the other. she won.
At what? The camera component of the electronic finish line system is precisely aligned with the finish line and gives a much more accurate image of the finish. The determination of the winner in these close races is not subjective and isn’t controversial.
i think the rule should state the maximum precision on the time, imo 0.001 is sufficient. if can't even a thousandth second tells the difference, then it's a draw. I mean you can go on till the N-th decimal if you want to make the person the winner, length of a hair? seriously? it's not as if there's never a joint-winner in sports. Otherwise change the technology, infrared sensor or laser or whatever, not the final call from judges after the so called behind the scene investigation.
