Washington Post Editorial - Ledecky - Women's 1500 Free

Slate has also taken up the bandwagon on this: www.slate.com/.../katie_ledecky_kazan_the_olympics_should_give_the_american_a_chance_to_repeat.html Even though I'm a distance swimmer I really don't think the Olympics needs to have both an 800 and 1500. IMO they should have both the men and women do the 1500. And while we're at it can we get some consistency in tennis? I don't get why the men play best of five sets at the majors while women play best of three.

Even though I'm a distance swimmer I really don't think the Olympics needs to have both an 800 and 1500. IMO they should have both the men and women do the 1500.Track and field figured it out in the 80’s; now women run the marathon in the Olympics. You would think 30 years later we could get similar parity in swimming, but it’s hard to change tradition.

So women are hardy enough to swim a 10k OW event but not 1.5k in the pool? Sure that makes a lot of sense.

So women are hardy enough to swim a 10k OW event but not 1.5k in the pool? Sure that makes a lot of sense. EXACTLY! :bitching: I couldn't agree with you more. :agree:

Slate has also taken up the bandwagon on this: www.slate.com/.../katie_ledecky_kazan_the_olympics_should_give_the_american_a_chance_to_repeat.html Even though I'm a distance swimmer I really don't think the Olympics needs to have both an 800 and 1500. IMO they should have both the men and women do the 1500. And while we're at it can we get some consistency in tennis? I don't get why the men play best of five sets at the majors while women play best of three. in that case shouldnt women use the same tee in golf? or why not the same time standard cuts for swimming/track? use the same weight shotput or discus or javlin or hammer. let men use the same suit in swimming as women. they lost knee to ankle...big whooopdedoo. the new fabrics are almost the same as the teflons were. men lost the biggiest part of their body - chest.

Even though I'm a distance swimmer I really don't think the Olympics needs to have both an 800 and 1500. IMO they should have both the men and women do the 1500.Well, if they are only going to have one distance event, it should be the 1500. However, I'd rather see both the 800 and 1500 as these are more exciting races to watch, especially on the men's side these days, than the blur of the sprints. let men use the same suit in swimming as women. they lost knee to ankle...big whooopdedoo. the new fabrics are almost the same as the teflons were. men lost the biggiest part of their body - chest.Agreed.

in that case shouldnt women use the same tee in golf? or why not the same time standard cuts for swimming/track? use the same weight shotput or discus or javlin or hammer. These are different cases. Women use different tees because they can't hit a golf ball as far. Different cuts because they can't swim or run as fast as men. However, women CAN play five sets of tennis just as well as men can.

These are different cases. Women use different tees because they can't hit a golf ball as far. Different cuts because they can't swim or run as fast as men. However, women CAN play five sets of tennis just as well as men can. you make no sense kirk. playing as long but yet not as strong doesnt it take strength and endurance to play as long? so what if the shotput now weighs more...reset and see who holds the new wr! start from the same tee and take 1 more stroke you seem ok with swimming the same 1500 distance but almost getting lapped doing it! (ie yang vs ledekey)

so what if the shotput now weighs more...reset and see who holds the new wr! start from the same tee and take 1 more stroke you seem ok with swimming the same 1500 distance but almost getting lapped doing it! (ie yang vs ledekey) These are decent points. I really don't know much about the shotput, but I'm sure there are some strong women out there who could handle the men's weight shot. But what about high school girls? Do you also thing girls/women should be using the same size basketballs and water polo balls as the men do? I think it's appropriate to make gender specific rules if those rules are due to true physical differences rather than outdated thinking about what females are capable of in sport. Golf is strange, I'll admit. There's such an ingrained mindset around shooting par that a lot of women would really hate hitting from the men's tees. But to me the tennis scenario is exactly like women swimming an 800 versus the men doing a 1500. It's nothing more than an anachronism. I'm glad to see we're actually getting some decent debate in a few threads lately. Things were getting awfully boring around here.:banana:

The other thing about golf is good courses are setup for specific tee shot lengths and green approach shot locations. Fairway bunkers are put at specific distances to be in play for drives. Greens are also designed to be hit into with a specific club range. A green designed for a short approach shot with a lofted club (eg needing to stick the ball) might not be possible to keep a ball on the green using a hybrid which needs to be rolled on from the fairway. Having different tees for women, men, pros, etc. allow for the course to be played the way it was designed for people who hit the ball different distances. I do agree that par is arbitrary, especially in a tournament where you are just trying to get the lowest score. It was funny at the 2015 Men's US Open to hear the players complain about a hole playing as a par 4 instead of a par 5 since it was the same for all players.