I honestly thought Malcolm in the Middle made this sport up as a gag
There’s actually some crazy cheating in race walking though, and it’s implicitly encouraged by explicitly ignoring slow motion cameras.
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF RACEWALKING?
They’re fairly simple. Essentially, you have to walk without enabling someone to logically deduce that you might actually be jogging or running, and the distinction between walking and running is that at least one foot maintains contact with the ground at all times during a walk, whereas an essential feature of running is the peak-stride period when neither foot is in contact with the ground. The instant neither of your feet is in contact with the ground during what’s intended to be a walk, you’re technically running, and are therefore subject to disqualification.
The loophole in the rules is that all such instances of running must be detectable to the naked eye, and no slow-motion replays can be relied upon to expose the cheaters. Therefore, racewalkers are arguably encouraged to cheat by surreptitiously running whenever it’s possible and they believe their illegal movement can remain undetectable, similar to how swimmers who specialize in breastroke have been indirectly encouraged to engage in illegal dolphin kicks for years.
— https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/racewalking-controversies
There’s actually some crazy cheating in race walking though, and it’s implicitly encouraged by explicitly ignoring slow motion cameras.
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF RACEWALKING?
They’re fairly simple. Essentially, you have to walk without enabling someone to logically deduce that you might actually be jogging or running, and the distinction between walking and running is that at least one foot maintains contact with the ground at all times during a walk, whereas an essential feature of running is the peak-stride period when neither foot is in contact with the ground. The instant neither of your feet is in contact with the ground during what’s intended to be a walk, you’re technically running, and are therefore subject to disqualification.
The loophole in the rules is that all such instances of running must be detectable to the naked eye, and no slow-motion replays can be relied upon to expose the cheaters. Therefore, racewalkers are arguably encouraged to cheat by surreptitiously running whenever it’s possible and they believe their illegal movement can remain undetectable, similar to how swimmers who specialize in breastroke have been indirectly encouraged to engage in illegal dolphin kicks for years.
— https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/racewalking-controversies
If I’m ever in a race I’m waiting 24 hours before I celebrate any wins
I was in London years ago and completely by accident came across the world championship of speed walking. It looks amazingly silly in person.
I wish I understood Swedish.
Oof, that’s some hubris right there! Love to see nemesis.
