I have no informatoin on this at all. I am just trying to read between the lines on Chrissie taking a break from Ironman racing.
She wants to be around for the games in London.
She wants to promote her causes.
She wants to truly be an ambassdor of the sport.
What better way than to try and get LC triathlon into the Olympics?
Do you really think WTC would let that happen without the Olympics paying them huge amounts of money for licensing their product? Do you really think the Olympics would even pony up for that? Doubt it–ain’t gonna happen!
For starters, you’d have to stop calling it Ironman, and start calling it ITU Long Course triathlon.
Edit: oh, you kind of did at the end.
Don’t see it happening, through. Enormous logistical undertaking, and not much spectator appeal. One of the criteria is that the sport has to be widely practiced around the world. Ironman isn’t - it’s dominated by a handful of countries.
Also, it has to beat out golf, squash, and rugby, which are all on the waiting list. Those are all far more popular, far more deeply competitive sports. (by “deeply competitive” I mean the list of people around the world who perform the sport at the elite level is many times that of long course triathlon).
Edit: Oh crap, rugby and golf are in for 2016.
So we only have to take down squash. Bring it!
Whatever, then don’t call it Ironman. Call it Long Distance Triathlon. Call it the 140.6 Mile Three Sport Race.
And, I think that WTC would be stupid not to embrace calling it Ironman. It would give their brand so much more of an appeal to the masses than a 60 minute show in December with a bunch of old guys crashing into roadside barriers.
But, let’s not make this another WTC bashing thread.
Wont happen, too long an event for tv, end of!
I have no informatoin on this at all. I am just trying to read between the lines on Chrissie taking a break from Ironman racing.
She wants to be around for the games in London.
She wants to promote her causes.
She wants to truly be an ambassdor of the sport.
What better way than to try and get LC triathlon into the Olympics?
Never in a million years. Also remember that Chrissie is not about Ironman, Chrissie is about Chrissie (as she should).
We don’t need Iron distance racing in the Olympics. The distance is perfect where it’s at. Other than bike racing and the Marathon, what other Oly sports go longer than 2+ hrs? Any longer and you lose interest.
From what I have heard there are plans to shorten the Olympic triathlon distance to a sprint. And perhaps to introduce a team event.
No reason to broadast the entire thing. You could certainly highlight the swim start, a few minutes of the bike and cut over if the run is close. Show the finish line.
There seem to be plenty of fringe sports in the summer and winter games -
Summer - Archery, Badminton, Kayaking, Croquet, Fencing. Hell, they used to have Tug o War from 1900-1920.
Winter - I don’t know how many people in the world are into Figure Skating, Luge, XC Skiing - but those sports are popular in the winter games.
ironman will never make it in. it’s incompatible with the original rules for inclusion, and there are a handful of iterations i could imagine going in first - like sprint or team.
-mike
Sprint, team, and off-road are all much more likely inclusions before long distance.
Ironman will never be an Olympic sport.
Most sports have a 2-hour broadcast window as determined by the IOC.
WTC & ITU have an uneasy relationship.
Ironman is a brand. Long course & Ultras are the distances.
Full stop.
I’m hearing those rumors as well, and the ramification of that will be huge. You’ll likely see athletes basically have to decide what type of athlete they are and go into the anaerobic speed side (sprint type) or the long course aerobic type. You wont be seeing alot of athletes cross over within a season as much just due to the type of training that is going to be necessary to be at the top end in a sprint style distance.
not much spectator appeal. One of the criteria is that the sport has to be widely practiced around the world. Ironman isn’t - it’s dominated by a handful of countries.
Yes LC Triathlon may possibly be more exciting than the 50K walk. They have that (is the 50K walk widely practiced around the world?), they just don’t show it on TV.
Although Sergey Bakulin *will *be pretty tough to beat in London this year . . . He’s looking to crack the 3 hour and 30 minute mark. Seriously. 3+ hours of walking.
It would not be added as a sport on its own, its an additional event for an existing one… besides its pushing it to add to 2016 at this point.
Especially when sprint and team won’t add to the athlete count much if at all, off road would not add the full field numbers as there would be a few crossovers…
Although Sergey Bakulin *will *be pretty tough to beat in London this year . . . He’s looking to crack the 6 hour and 30 minute mark. Seriously. 6+ hours of walking.
Are you confusing 6:30 with pace? The WR is ~3:34 (Yes, I had to look it up).
Preaching to the choir, but “C’mon we’re better than effing race-walking!” isn’t exactly a winning argument before the IOC.
Are you confusing 6:30 with pace? The WR is ~3:34 (Yes, I had to look it up).
Yup, my bad, typed 6’s when I meant 3’s.
Sergey won the World Championship in Daegu, Korea with a time of 3:41:24, turning back his fellow countryman Denis Nizhegorodov by 1:21. Russia has never been prouder.
not much spectator appeal. One of the criteria is that the sport has to be widely practiced around the world. Ironman isn’t - it’s dominated by a handful of countries.
Yes LC Triathlon may possibly be more exciting than the 50K walk. They have that (is the 50K walk widely practiced around the world?), they just don’t show it on TV.
Although Sergey Bakulin *will *be pretty tough to beat in London this year . . . He’s looking to crack the 6 hour and 30 minute mark. Seriously. 6+ hours of walking.
Can he take my dog with him during the 6+ hrs of walking?
She may try (I doubt it), but it would never work.
The ITU is trying to get team relay in next, and after that would probably try to get sprint-distance in. LC is a ways down on the list.