NEW DELHI: The Paralympics is all triumph over adversity and a demonstration of the nothing-is-impossible spirit than pushing one to the limit like in the Olympics which precedes it.
If winning was the only thing, to quote a famous American coach, at the Rio Games in August, the world applauds Paralympic champions and participants alike for just getting to the start line, having surmounted physical disabilities and kept faith despite skeptics trying to pull them down.
The men’s Paralympics 1,500m final in the T13 category — for athletes with partial vision impairment — this week has caused an upheaval, trending and rattling the social media simply because its top four finishers ran faster than the Olympic champion in the distance, Matthew Centrowitz of the US.
So, in theory, the four would have pushed Centrowitz to fifth in the Olympic final.
Algerian Abdellatif Baka won the Paralympic race in a record 3min 48.29sec, 1.7sec faster than Centrowitz’s pedestrian 3:50.00. To put the American’s race speed in perspective, many Indian state records are faster. Our national record is 3:38.00.
TACTICAL BATTLE
The world loves an underdog, but the grand effort in the Paralympics can still only be a fun stat to wave around, and can’t be compared with the Olympics effort.
That is simply because the Rio Games final was tactical to the core despite producing the slowest winning time since 1932. Centrowitz’s personal best is 3:30.40, and his best in a major meet is 3:35.17, clocked while coming fourth in the London Olympics final.
{{/usCountry}}That is simply because the Rio Games final was tactical to the core despite producing the slowest winning time since 1932. Centrowitz’s personal best is 3:30.40, and his best in a major meet is 3:35.17, clocked while coming fourth in the London Olympics final.
{{/usCountry}}In Rio, Centrowitz was outstanding in slowing down the pace as he has a fast finish.
SLOW KILL
Such a slow race is not without precedence. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Britain’s Sebastian Coe won at 3:38.4 after the first half was a jog like in Rio. His compatriot and rival, Steve Ovett, who had won the 800m, chose to sit back and ended up with bronze.
Coe, the only man to successfully defend the 1,500m title, ran the last 400m in 52.2sec, and the final 100m at around 12 seconds.
Tactical running makes middle-distance races absorbing, though Kenya’s David Rudisha, the 800m world record holder and double Olympic champion, has killed that fun by turning it into a virtual sprint.
Finn Lasse Viren, who won the 5000-10000m double at the 1972 and 1976 Games, wore down rivals with spurts mid race.
And for those who want the track to be set on fire, there are videos of Usain Bolt and Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, who smashed the women’s 10,000m world record by a ridiculous 14 seconds in Rio (29:17.45).