Rio 2016 Olympic Update (Day 13)
If there is one debate in sports that has never gone away and will never go away it is a debate over the athleticism of athletes.
Everyone has their favourite sport and every sport has their own level of athleticism throughout the rosters of teams.
When people have their favourite sports they believe that the best athletes usually reside in that sport.
They may not argue that all athletes are better, how can someone argue that a 350 lbs lineman be considered a top athlete, but they do argue that their favourite is full of the best athletes.
Most of those debates subside when the Olympics come on though as just the sheer sight of many of the participants in the Olympics proves everyone wrong.
The debate does subside but a new one rises as the focus turns entirely to the Olympics and who the best athletes are at the Games.
Every sport is full of people with a claim to be the top athletes.
There are the weightlifters and throwers who are some of the strongest athletes in the world. Then again none of them will be running a 100m sprint anytime soon and so it is hard to say that they are truly great athletes.
The sprinters can certainly look closer to great athletes but take them off of the track to something else and they may not be able to do much.
The same can be said for so many other athletes and so most of the athletes are considered great but not entirely the best.
Then there are the more debated athletes who are not just singular athletes that do one thing better than everyone else.
There are the gymnasts who certainly pass the eye test as great athletes as some of the most physically impressive people at the Olympics.
Although they are just concentrating on gymnastics that sport involves power, strength, balance, speed, and just an overall sense of your body.
They have to jump, run, and launch themselves high into the air only to end it all by coming down on two feet without stumbling in any way.
There is an argument for them to be considered the greatest athletes in the Olympics.
There is also the triathletes who must be good at multiple disciplines to compete at a high level. They have to have the ability to swim, cycle and run while also having the endurance to go through all three in one race.
It is a tough sport that takes a lot of will and mental toughness along with that physical ability to compete in three different disciplines.
For many, though, that doesn’t compare to the Heptathlon and the Decathlon where many say the best athletes in the world are crowned.
They have a case as well with both sports involving multiple disciplines that involve the basics of all athletics.
They involve running, throwing, jumping, and endurance which is essentially all that athletics are.
They are all involved in each of these sports and to be the best at this sport you need to be good at all of these disciplines.
When it comes down to it these two Olympic sports involve every aspect of sports and being good at all of them can be a good claim to the best athlete in the world.
This year Jessica Ennis and Ashton Eaton are both repeating as the best athletes in the world after winning their second Olympic titles in Rio.
There is, of course, some argument against these events though as none of the athletes who participate is all that great at any one event.
When they go through their rotations the times, heights or distances they get are all far from Olympic level.
Most wouldn’t even qualify for any single event if they had decided to participate in one.
So can the best athlete in the world simply be just ok at a bunch of sports or do they have to be great at a few disciplines?
Although the winner of the decathlon has the unofficial label as the greatest athlete in the world the debate will rage on every Olympic games and in between.
The Canadian Story:
The Next One
Andre De Grasse has solidified himself as the future of sprinting in Rio as he has taken his first chance at the Olympics and run with it after earning his second medal of the games, this time, a silver in the 200m sprint
Gaining a Collection
It was a great day for Canada and starting it off was Meaghan Benfeito who won her second medal of the games and the third Olympic medal this time in individual after taking home a bronze medal in the 10m platform
Following Legends
Canadians do not have the most lengthy or prestigious history in wrestling but there are still some legends in the sport for Canada with two gold medals but Day 13 added a third as Erica Wiebe took home Canada’s fourth gold medal of the games
Not Looking for Third
Ashton Easton came into the Olympics as the consensus #1 decathlete in the world but there was a Canadian that many were watching closely as Damian Warner seemed like he might be able to unseat the Olympic champion but he couldn’t do it as he fell to third for a bronze
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Day 13 Medal Results: |
Day 14 Medal Events: |
| Athletics Men’s 200m 1. Usain Bolt (JAM) 2. Andre De Grasse (CAN) 3. Christophe Lemaitre (FRA) Men’s 400m Hurdles 1. Kerron Clement (USA) 2. Boniface Mucheru (KEN) 3. Yasmani Copello (TUR) Men’s Decathlon 1. Ashton Eaton (USA) 2. Kévin Mayer (FRA) 3. Damian Warner (CAN) Men’s Shot Put 1. Ryan Crouser (USA) 2. Joe Kovacs (USA) 3. Tomas Walsh (NZL) Men’s Triathlon 1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 2. Jonny Brownlee (GBR) 3. Henri Schoeman (RSA) Women’s 400m Hurdles 1. Dalilah Muhammad (USA) 2. Sara Petersen (DEN) 3. Ashley Spencer (USA) Women’s Javelin 1. Sara Kolak (CRO) 2. Sunette Vijeon (RSA) 3. Barbora Špotáková (CZE) Badminton Beach Volleyball Boxing Canoe/Kayak Sprint Diving Field Hockey Sailing Taekwondo Wrestling |
Athletics Men’s 20km Walk Men’s 4x100m Relay Men’s Hammer Throw Women’s 20km Walk Women’s 5000m Women’s 4x100m Relay Women’s Pole Vault Badminton Boxing Cycling (BMX) Equestrian Field Hockey Modern Pentathlon Soccer/Football Synchronized Swimming Taekwondo Wrestling |
The Sport Addiction 