# Which Olympic event do you find the most impressive? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** olympic-sports-track\ **Created:** [July 22, 2021, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017 "2021-07-22T01:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/61 "2021-07-26T22:57:48Z")
Yeah, the WR marathon pace is something I could have sustained for like \<200m when I was doing cardio 6 times a week in high school, it’s crazy. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/62 "2021-07-26T23:19:10Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Now, how fast can you ride a bicycle on a flat road with no tailwind? In an all-out sprint, I mean. Can you get up to 50km/h? Maybe, for a few seconds. If you’re a fit, enthusiastic amateur cyclist, maybe for a few minutes. > > Well, Victor Campenaerts can hold 55.089km/h for an hour. Carbon fiber this, aero that, altitude whatever. That is just mind-bending. It’s like if a marathon winner ran the whole race as fast as you can sprint. Beats the hell out of me. Which is kind of my point. I can ride a bike. But it’s obvious to me that other people can ride it faster. If you said “hey, guess what, someone can ride a bike not just FASTER than you, but WAY faster than you… here are some numbers and stats that you don’t possibly have the right frame of reference to really grok”, I would be like “huh”. That’s just a very different response than I would have if you said “hey, guess what, some person can jump up in the air, flip head over heels twice, and then land. Oh, and they’re on a 4-inch-wide beam while they do it”. (That said, this is a really pretty pointless side debate, and I’m starting to feel a little silly for bringing it up). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/63 "2021-07-27T00:01:18Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen a double somersault and land on the balance beam. A single is impressive enough, and they can do a few of them in sequence. ---
**Author:** ![phxjcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phxjcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phxjcc)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/64 "2021-07-27T03:21:39Z")
I agree, Re 10 M Platform I did it once. It hurts. I was a water baby/stud swimmer in HS. People have no idea what it looks like or feels like. Puffed out my chest and told everybody that I would dive. I went in feet first instead… Pro-tip: do NOT, under any circumstances, think that doing the splits going into the water to slow your momentum to the bottom is a good idea. Someone else can do the f = ma calculation, but the water feels HARD. Surface tension is real. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/65 "2021-07-27T04:58:27Z")
It’s my understanding that it’s basically all density difference, not surface tension. Also, serendipity, I was just watching the most compelling video I’ve seen in a long time: [Ten Meter Tower | NYT Op-Docs - YouTube](https://youtu.be/5QMlIjSnt_E) ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/66 "2021-07-27T06:10:42Z")
That was much much more interesting than I thought it would be. Love Linus and Frieda. Love the older woman. Really fascinating psychological study of how different people deal with fear. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/67 "2021-07-27T12:48:58Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > (That said, this is a really pretty pointless side debate, and I’m starting to feel a little silly for bringing it up). Quite so. Because having silly, pointless arguments over trivial subjects is _certainly not_ something we do at the SDMB. For shame, sirrah! I take your point. But I think it has to do with how we experience and understand the sport we’re watching (See? Epistemology! It’s not pointless quibbling, but an intuhmallectual discussion!). Watching gymnasts tumble in the floor exercises, or twist their bodies around on the rings - which always astounds me - or fly around the uneven bars, fills me with awe. But like you, I can’t really understand how such things are done, so I can only appreciate it on an aesthetic and intellectual level. But I’ve run marathons. I know in my gut and in my legs and in my heart how hard they are. So to see someone like Galen Rupp or Eliud Kipchoge run one at a pace twice as fast as my fastest mile ever, impresses me on a whole different level. > [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Yeah, the WR marathon pace is something I could have sustained for like \<200m when I was doing cardio 6 times a week in high school, it’s crazy. At the expo for my last half-marathon, the track club had set up a treadmill moving at Kipchoge’s pace for the sub 2hr distance record. It was like watching a stream flowing off a mountaintop. Humbling to see even the track club’s pros struggle to maintain the pace. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/68 "2021-07-27T12:57:08Z")
As an avid skier, watching professional skiers make the extremely difficult look easy is impressive in a way that watching a pole vaulter clear 19’ will never be. They’re both amazing, but one impacts me emotionally while the other is _just_ unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/69 "2021-07-27T13:30:00Z")
Equestrian jumping. Probably a case of knowing a little bit making it more impressive. A horse weighs over half a ton, and they did not evolve to jump high, like say an antelope. Again, the team makes it look effortless; in reality these horses are worth some millions of dollars, they are that rare. It has to be one of the most if not the most expensive Olympic sport. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/70 "2021-07-27T15:12:30Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > For the winter games, I will go with the ski-jumping/flying. I know they are not that high off the snow, but still, looking down that ramp, and that the skis are locked into skids, there is no way to bail out once you start, and they are going, what 50 mph? And the skis are attached only at the toe. Again, no effing way and decent skier is even going to try that. Also very impressive! I’ve been thinking more about this, because I agree wholeheartedly about the “no freaking way” aspect of the ski jump. That would seem to make it more impressive from the start. For me it comes down to control. Ski jumping is the epitome of controlled, going so far as to carve grooves into the course so that your skis stay perfectly straight until liftoff. By contrast, the name of the game in downhill is riding the ragged edge of disaster, going as fast as you possibly can to the point of _just almost_ losing control. And if you do lose control, at half again the speed of a ski jumper, you’re looking at a world of hurt. It’s just a more impressive feat of bravery to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/71 "2021-07-27T15:31:37Z")
I’m curious if anyone here is actually familiar with the characteristics of a downhill course. I’ve often wondered if they’re like double black diamonds, blues, greens? I honestly have no idea. They usually look very wide open which isn’t typical of a double black. I assume that the slalom courses are either single or double black. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/72 "2021-07-27T16:13:20Z")
I’ve ski’d down several world cup downhill courses and none of them are knee-knocking terror at the speeds I travel, none of them are a particular challenge to a moderate recreational skier under normal circumstances. The Streif in Kitzbuhel has steep bits that require attention and good edges in icy conditions but most people will be just fine. It is mostly a moderate red with a couple of short black sections and some blue cruising. But that is all rather deceptive because the downhill racers are not skiing it like us mere mortals. When I’m at a moderate cruising and carving speed of perhaps 40mph that crest of the hill is a moderate roller-coaster moment. At 80mph it launches you into a 60 metre leap and every hollow or hump risks catapulting you off the course. That steep section for me causes me to slow down, edge carefully and take my time, the pro’s are going straight down in a full tuck to get maximum speed. And none of the forces involved are linear. Turning at 60mph is not twice as taxing as at 30mph. Before I skied I wondered quite why they were out of breath at the bottom, well it is because the forces they have to endure are immense. Over three G on those big turns. The equivalent of three Hermann Maier’s sitting on your shoulders trying to collapse your legs and you’d better hope you are strong enough to deal with it because you are doing 90 mph and that’s an ice-hard piste ready to bounce and cartwheel you for 200 metres into the catch netting or (god forbid) something more sturdy. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/73 "2021-07-27T16:29:27Z")
Thanks for the info. That’s about what I had assumed because it just doesn’t seem humanly possible to turn on the big black hills that fast. But as this thread indicates, the Olympians are doing a lot of things that don’t seem humanly possible. FTR, I don’t see how they go as fast as they do on the runs that they’re on. I’m sure we’ve all been on runs and had someone fly by and you question their sanity. I can’t even imagine what seeing an Olympic skier would be like. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/74 "2021-07-27T17:03:28Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I can’t even imagine what seeing an Olympic skier would be like. fleeting! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/75 "2021-07-27T18:40:45Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > The Streif in Kitzbuhel has steep bits that require attention and good edges in icy conditions but most people will be just fine. I’ve skied a few downhill courses but not the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel. I spoke with a guy in a resort in France who’s son was on the World Cup circuit. The father was an excellent skier, local champion racer himself. He said that he had a very difficult time just making it down the Streif in race conditions (icy/hard) but he may have been trying to take it at speed. There are sections of the downhill run at Banff that gave me pause, but not at the run at Whiteface. Certainly either would scare the bejesus out of a novice skier. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/76 "2021-07-27T18:47:27Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > At the expo for my last half-marathon, the track club had set up a treadmill moving at Kipchoge’s pace for the sub 2hr distance record. It was like watching a stream flowing off a mountaintop. Humbling to see even the track club’s pros struggle to maintain the pace. - Yeah. My best mile ever was 4:32. That puts Kipchoge 2.5 seconds back and _just getting warmed up._ ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/77 "2021-07-27T19:11:51Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > He said that he had a very difficult time just making it down the Streif in race conditions (icy/hard) but he may have been trying to take it at speed. Oh yeah, when it has been water injected and rock-hard I reckon those steeper bits would be a nightmare and even the moderate red bits pretty scary. But in good light and with a more forgiving surface it isn’t something that a decent recreational skier would have problems with. You know your skiing Telemark, conditions are everything aren’t they? far more than absolute steepness. I skied the Black Mamba on the Kitzsteinhorn with my kids and though it is long, narrow and steep, on the day we skied it it was smooth, grippy and consistent and in good light. It defintely demanded care but it wasn’t a sphincter-tightening experience. (mind you, had the conditions not been perfect I wouldn’t have done it anyway) > [@Telemark](#): > > There are sections of the downhill run at Banff that gave me pause, but not at the run at Whiteface. Certainly either would scare the bejesus out of a novice skier. If “novice” refers to someone with a couple of weeks under them then yes, the Streif would also scare them shitless under any conditions. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/78 "2021-07-28T17:50:29Z")
Handball. Plenty of action, lots of physicality and athleticism, and plenty of amazing plays. I can watch even without caring who’s playing. The players are magical, flying through the air to score in ways that no one can defend against. And even though it’s very physical getting off a shot, with people bumping and grabbing each other, they still show sportsmanship to their opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/79 "2021-08-02T22:18:35Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > My wife used to be a ~~synchronized~~ “artistic swimmer” and from what I know about it and what she’s told me, it’s _extremely_ difficult. Some of the things they do should be impossible. And unlike every other event, they have to do it with a smile the whole time. - I’m watching this now. I couldn’t stand in the pool and do my arms like these women are doing with their legs upside down while treading treading water. It’s just incredible to watch. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017/80 "2021-08-09T20:28:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > And unlike every other event, they have to do it with a smile the whole time. Gymnastics and figure skating also require pasted on smiles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-olympic-event-do-you-find-the-most-impressive/947017.md?page=5)