IMAGINARY SUMMER OLYMPICS - Poll #8 - Athletics - Men's 1500m; Swimming - Women's 50m Freestyle; Triathlon - Men's Individual

[rafalgorka 1,508]

You can still vote in the Poll #7:

 

https://totallympics.com/topic/12932-imaginary-summer-olympics-poll-7-tennis-womens-singles-badminton-womens-singles-table-tennis-mens-singles/

 

But here comes Poll #8 already.

 

These are olympic champions in certain events.

Imagine that all these champions are on the top of their game at the very same moment in time.

Who would have won gold?

 

Be aware that the voting ends at Wednesday March 16th, 8 p.m. CET.

 

These pollls are like event start lists, who would win, what you think?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(men)#1500_metres

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_swimming_(women)#50_metres_freestyle

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_triathlon#Individual

 

Below you can find our results summary and medal table.

 

Let's vote then!

[rafalgorka 1,508]

Time to get SERIOUS about these pols

 

Time to include ATHLETICS and SWIMMING in them.

 

Of course, one may say that we can just check everyone's PBs and we know who should be 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

 

But... Let's start with 1500m. Maybe in our imaginary olympics the pace will not be so strong at first two laps and the guys with the best finish will have more chances.

Or some of our favourites stumble (I don't wish this to anyone, obviously).

Or... and that's the most interesting question in these polls so far, from my perspective, how fast the old champions would be if they had the access to the XXI century training methods???

 

The same with 50m freestyle. We know who has the best PB. But... this is 50m, things happen in a moment, maybe the fastest ones will get nervous, maybe their final strokes will not be that good?

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN OUR IMAGINARY OLYMPICS.

 

Let's vote!

[rafalgorka 1,508]

And to spice things up, I promise that in the next poll I will introduce the first TEAM SPORT!!!

 

I have some ideas how to organize the polls in team sports in this series, I wonder if you like it.

 

Stay safe!

[rafalgorka 1,508]

Hey, people who took part in Beijing 2022 polls, maybe you want to take part in another series of polls as well?

I know some of you already have done it :-)

 

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[phelps 7,615]

the men's 1500m in Athletics is the first poll that makes it really difficult for me...

 

it's complicated because we're going through more than 100 years of history and it's basically impossible to properly compare such kind of different ages, with all the different social/economical/technical conditions and resources available to the people...even the access to the sport was so much different so long ago...

 

therefore, among all those great names, I'm going with someone at least I had the chance to follow closely through his entire career...and I pick maybe the classies runner (and man) I ever heard of/watched:  Hicham El Guerrouj...

he was so beautiful and effortless when he was on top of his game...a pleasure to watch...

and he was so respectful of his opponents (and of the fans) when he was off the track...a truly pleasant human being...

 

in the swimming 50m free for women, my pick is maybe a bit controversial, but, even she might have been built in a laboratory rather than in a swimming pool, I think  Kristin Otto has really been the best sprint specialist ever...and she was untouchable not only in 1 style, not in 2...but in 3 disciplines out of 4!

 

men's triathlon is actually a no brainer because both the young age of the sport (at least in Olympic terms) and the superiority of one man among those in the list (the only one capable of repeating the Olympic Gold medal in 2 editions of the Games)...

so, my pick is quite obviously  Alistair Brownlee

[LDOG 2,413]

I voted Paavo Nurmi but polls for "mark" sports are difficult to measure because many people will simply vote for the current WR holders. And there are perfectly good arguments to just do that.

 

How to decide...

 

[rafalgorka 1,508]

6 minutes ago, LDOG said:

I voted Paavo Nurmi but polls for "mark" sports are difficult to measure because many people will simply vote for the current WR holders. And there are perfectly good arguments to just do that.

 

How to decide...

 

Yes, I have the same problem with these polls here.

 

But these "mark" sports - athletics and swimming above all - are the "golden circle" of the games for me so they can't be missed.

 

We know who is WR holder in men's 1500m but maybe Nurmi could run faster when he had access to all the XXI century training methods and equipment...

[LDOG 2,413]

8 minutes ago, LDOG said:

I voted Paavo Nurmi but polls for "mark" sports are difficult to measure because many people will simply vote for the current WR holders. And there are perfectly good arguments to just do that.

 

How to decide...

 

To elaborate: with other sports, like team sports for ex, I feel there is an aesthetic element that plays prominently at the moment of valuating old time athletes and teams. Not sure if this can be applied to mark sports (can someone run 1500m more "beautifully"?).

 

For example, if we did a football world cup poll Brazil 1970 would probably rank pretty high because it's concensus that they played the most beautiful football despite the fact that they would get battered by France 2018 if they were to play.

[rafalgorka 1,508]

10 minutes ago, LDOG said:

To elaborate: with other sports, like team sports for ex, I feel there is an aesthetic element that plays prominently at the moment of valuating old time athletes and teams. Not sure if this can be applied to mark sports (can someone run 1500m more "beatifully"?).

 

For example, if we did a football world cup poll Brazil 1970 would probably rank pretty high because it's concensus that they played the most beautiful football despite the fact that they would get battered by France 2018 if they were to play.

I have some problems with team sports (which start from the next poll) as well.

 

But I think the best solution, for the purpose of these polls, will be that we won't compare two or more gold medal olympic teams from one NOC with each other.

Instead, we can think which NOC who has previously won at least one gold should win in our imaginary games.

And that means we could think of e.g. Argentina men's football team for our imaginary games as a team of all the best players from both Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 teams.

This could be interesting.

 

 

 

[rafalgorka 1,508]

Spoilers:

 

next poll will be:

 

Hockey - Women’s Tournament

Archery - Men’s Individual

Shooting - Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol

 

@Sindo is there a chance to change the settings here so I could make 5 questions in one poll, to speed up things even more? 😉