are you fucking KIDDING ME???

[kush1]

Speed walking is on USA right now...... SPEED WALKING is a fucking Olympic sport??

This may be one if I train hard i can compete in in the next Olympics!

[neck beard]

Looks like shit hey. The rules suck as well.

[where have a lot of you guys been hiding over the years? There is so much surprise at what's in the olympics: fencing, walking etc. Those events have been there for a long time]

[SonnyBoy]

Who thinks to themselves: "Hey, I want to be good at walking fast. I feel I have talent." ?

[Ripzalot]

^^ very competitive people with bad knees and no life.

[Rasputin]

It is SUCH a graceful and elegant sport though.

[funkendrenchman]

Speed walking is on USA right now...... SPEED WALKING is a fucking Olympic sport??

This may be one if I train hard i can compete in in the next Olympics!

Ha, I was gonna post the exact same thing, but I figured someone already had.

[irbis]

I agree this is not easy to watch on tv, but try to walk very fast for 50 km. Just saying.

[funkendrenchman]

I agree this is not easy to watch on tv, but try to walk very fast for 50 km. Just saying.

Why not have a 100m race walk?

[The AD]

Seriously a goofy sport. I wonder, if you're a race walker, how many times you have to hear "Why don't you just run? Wouldn't it be faster?"

Do you realize the winner of the 50K averaged 7:00 miles? That's insane!

But it's still goofy.

[Theodore]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUxi_Eo6fU

[andyC]

I caught the beginning of this race last night. Obviously super boring, but whatever floats your boat I guess. One thing that pissed me off was early on one of the competitors in the middle of that massive fucking pack actually fell to the ground, quickly gets up, and then jogs the first few steps to get back to position. Are you fucking kidding me? The commentators just shrugged it off with chuckle, saying the rule was only that you must have both feet on the ground to the naked eye, not the camera lens. Fuck that, no wonder nobody takes this sport seriously if they blatantly violate the rules in the Olympics of all places.

[TomK]

They could be heros, stopping doers of evil along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-SJLlneLc

[Metatron]

Who thinks to themselves: "Hey, I want to be good at walking fast. I feel I have talent." ?

This guy...

[cramer]

i caught a little of this. I found their technique with the legs to be quite humerous.

[The AD]

i caught a little of this. I found their technique with the legs to be quite humerous.

And their arm technique was very humerus...

[Rusty Nails]

This takes the cake as lamest olympic sport. If you can't run, stay home. Holy crap.

[alias]

I was listening to NPR over the weekend and they had a multiple choice trivia question on some past olympic speed walking competetion.

the correct answer was that the race was compromised because in thier excitement as they neared the finish line the lead competitors broke out into a sprint.

[Huckin eh?]

Thats why I much prefer the winter Olympics.
Less gay events!.
Im not sayin there arent any!
Just sayin less

[kush1]

I watched for about 3 min and turned the channel when the announcers said
"these athletes are on their way to birds nest where the decathlon is going on, the stadium will go nuts when these guys enter the stadium"

Really? really??

There won't just be a hush with a few snickers? I would be kind of embarrassed if I had to come into that stadium speed walking while there is a real event going on.

[Tippster]

You guys have no idea how hard that is. None.

I graduated HS in 1984, and had been on the track team for two years prior. My buddies and I were joking about race walking in the upcoming LA Olympics. Our coach challenged us to do 2 miles in 16 minutes - 8 laps around the track. When we failed miserably - best time was ~19 minutes - and were in a shitload of pain we realized that we were going 1/2 as fast and not even a 10th of the distance that the olympians do.

Yes it's a goofy looking sport, but those fuckers are as badass as marathoners.

[kush1]

You guys have no idea how hard that is. None.

I graduated HS in 1984, and had been on the track team for two years prior. My buddies and I were joking about race walking in the upcoming LA Olympics. Our coach challenged us to do 2 miles in 16 minutes - 8 laps around the track. When we failed miserably - best time was ~19 minutes - and were in a shitload of pain we realized that we were going 1/2 as fast and not even a 10th of the distance that the olympians do.

Yes it's a goofy looking sport, but those fuckers are as badass as marathoners.

Still gay.....

I've seen people speed walking around Alexandria, VA before, the girl said she was on the US team. In crazy shape but......... still gay

It is up there with team handball

[choad]

Now fuck me, handball is one of the hardest and roughest sports out there in the olympics. I as a Euroguy don't understand too much about baseball everybody here seems to love so much, but it surely looks as gay and boring to me as the speed walking to you. Walking is a tough sport and I can also say it is nice to have sometimes, like for my buddy who can only do stuff like that because of his knees.
Anyway, handball gay? No way!

[The AD]

Anyway, handball gay? No way!

Hey, most of us are just now willing to accept that soccer might not be gay. You're going to have to give us some time on handball! Or, better yet, men's field hockey.

[Hugh Conway]

at least they aren't mogul skiers or park snowboarders

[Tippster]

at least they aren't mogul skiers or park snowboarders

Freestyle Aerials.

Handball looks rough. Like "get hit in the mouth multiple times a game" rough.