Olympics essentials
Day 10 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games features a jam-packed roster of Australians competing in athletic track and field events.
It’s hoped the success of the team will continue following a silver and bronze medal in the women’s high jump.
It’s already been a packed week, with the new fastest men and women in the world being crowned.
As the world shifts its attention from the pool to the track, curious spectators want to learn more.
Here are the answers to your burning questions about the athletics track and field events.
Who will compete tonight?
National pole vault record-holder Nina Kennedy is going for gold in Paris.(Getty Images: Steph Chambers)
The Australian athletics team for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games is the second-largest ever sent, after Sydney in 2000.
The squad also contains serious pedigree, with six medallists from last year’s World Championships and three Olympic medallists from the Tokyo Games.
They will compete in 39 of the 48 athletics events in Paris.
Tonight, nine Australian athletes will compete.
They are:
Matthew Denny in the men’s discus throw qualificationNina Kennedy in the women’s pole vault qualificationSarah Carli and Alanah Yukich in the women’s hurdles repechage roundEllie Beer in the women’s 400m roundMia Gross and Torrie Lewis in the women’s 200m repechage roundRose Davies in the women’s 5,000m finalKurtis Marshall in the men’s pole vault
The full schedule for day 10 of the Olympics is here.
When are the athletics events?
The athletics events for the Paris 2024 Olympics began on August 1 and will end on August 11.
Read the full Olympic schedule here.
The full list of events is here.
What does NR mean?
Julien Alfred set a national record for her sprint time of 10.72 seconds, winning the first-ever medal for her country, St Lucia.(Reuters: Aleksandra Szmigiel)
There are lots of abbreviations being thrown around on the athletics stage that you may not have heard before.
NR means National Record.
A national record is the the marks achieved by a nation’s best athlete or athletes in a particular athletics event.
What does SB mean?
SB stands for season’s best.
A season’s best is the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level within a season.
What is repechage?
The repechage round in the men’s 1500m, won by Italian Federico Riva.(Reuters: Phil Noble)
Repechage, when loosely translated from French, means “second chance”.
It’s nothing new in track cycling, rowing, speed skating and a whole host of other events, but it is a new edition to the track and field events for Paris 2024.
At previous Olympics, the top three finishers in heats would progress automatically, with the remaining spots in the semifinals or final made up by the runners who finished fourth or lower with the best times.
But in July 2022, World Athletics announced a change at elite events, with all the non-automatic qualifiers (except for those who did not start, did not finish or were disqualified) going into repechage races to fill the remaining spots in those later races.
You can read more about the rule here.
Who is the fastest man in the world?
The athletics at the Olympics are probably most well known for bringing the fastest men and women around the world together to compete for a medal.
The men’s 100m sprint final last night saw a new champion in Noah Lyles from the US.
This means he is now the current fastest sprinter in the world, finishing with a time of 9.79 seconds.
Who is the fastest woman in the world?
Julien Alfred became the fastest woman at the Olympics after she won the 100m women’s sprint with a time of 10.72 seconds.
It was also the first medal for her country, St Lucia.
Read more about that here.
While Alfred is the Olympic Champion, the silver medallist in the same event, Sha’Carri Richardson, holds the current World Champion title.
Richardson ran the 100m sprint at the Olympic trials earlier this year in 10.71 seconds.
Who has the 100m sprint record?
Retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt still holds the world record, 9.58 seconds, set in 2009 at the World Athletics Championships held in Berlin.
The Olympic record of 9.63 seconds was also set by Usain Bolt, at the London Games in 2012.
US athlete Florence Griffin-Joyner is considered the fastest woman ever, holding the world records for the 100m and 200m sprint for over 30 years.
Griffin-Joyner set the world record for the 100m sprint, 10.49 seconds, in 1988 at the Seoul Olympic Games.
The Olympic record for the Women’s 100m sprint is held by Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, set at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
She ran it in 10.61 seconds.
Why do the athletes ring a bell at the Olympics?
Noah Lyles of the United States celebrates after winning the men’s 100 metres final.(AP: Matthias Schrader)
Every gold medallist in the athletics is given the chance to ring the bell situated by the track at the Stade de France.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Paris Games organiser Tony Estanguet said it was a great way to engage with the fans, and part of the organisers’ broader plan to blend a taste of Paris and its culture into every venue.
As part of the legacy of the Paris Games, the bell will eventually be moved from the stadium to the rebuilt Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Source link : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-05/athletics-explainer-aussies-full-night-of-competition/104183230
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Publish date : 2024-08-05 06:49:35
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