So excited for the opening day of track and field at the Rio Olympics, and the first final saw an amazing, incredible, spectacular performance in the women’s 10000m, where Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia crushed the standing world record by more than :14.
(Matt Slocum / Associated Press) Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia crushed the standing world record by more than :14.
I can feel your joy sister Ayana. After crushing all six of my goal times in the first six events of The Running Decathlon, each in times that exceeded my expectations, I felt humbled by the speed of those who actually set the original world records.
Over the next few days, we will be able to watch world record holders Usain Bolt (the 100m and the 200m) and David Rudisha (the 800m) compete on what looks to be an extremely fast track. Bolt’s 100m final will be on Sunday night and the 200m final is on Thursday. For Rudisha, the 800m final is on Monday night.
It is interesting to note that just one of the men’s World Records in the eight running events that I have included in The Running Decathlon was actually set in Olympic Competition. That would be Rudisha’s time of 1:40.91 set four years ago in the London Games. It will be interesting to see if any of the other world records will be broken in Rio.
For perspective, I have compiled this list of the times I ran in The Running Decathlon and the Olympic Record in each of the events.
EVENT Olympic Record MyTime
100m 9.63 Usain Bolt 16.4
200m 19.3 Usain Bolt 34.4
400m 43.49 Michael Johnson TBD
800m 1:40.91 David Rudisha 3:12.64
1500m 3:32.07 Noah Ngeny 6:24.34
Mile Not Contested 7:05.76
5000m 12:57.82 Kenenisa Bekele 24:14.97
10000m 27:01.17 Kenenisa Bekele TBD
1/2MarathonNot Contested TBD
Marathon 2:06:32 Samuel Wanjiru TBD
As you can see, in the six events already completed I am faster than half as fast.
My clock. The Hengelo clock after the 5000m.
Enjoy the games.