Semi-seriously, I quite like the idea of going back to the original ancient Greek way of doing competitive sport naked. That would take care of quite a lot of the issues surrounding running shoes, swmming suits, and so on.
The comic strip Tank McNamara long ago had a Sunday strip that showed the eponymous ex-jock sportscaster stopping into a running-goods store. The weedy sales guy starts piling him up with road shoes, off-roads shoes, racing shoes, warmups, etc., etc. As Tank stands baffled at the cash register, his girl friend says "And to think the ancient Greeks did it naked."
I think it was Running magazine that did not find his amusing.
Ha! I'm a keen runner, and one of the things I love about it is that, as long as you invest in a decent pair of shoes (I'm a fan of Altra), it's pretty much cost-free. I really don't get all the super-expensive stuff unless people are getting towards Olympic level.
Big Sneaker would oppose it. Just try going into a running store and ask for a minimal shoe (single digit-mm thickness sole). They will recoil in horror and show to a big clunky 40mm job.
This is partially what I was thinking, given that running tracks are pretty soft surfaces. Not sure how that would work for marathons though. Agree with the other commenter though that the big trainer companies would shut any talk of that down very quickly.
Sure, it wouldn't work for all aspects of all sports, but it certainly would for a lot of athletics and field sports (i.e. most of the kinds of sports that the ancient Greeks would do). And with other sports you'd level the playing field even if there were aspects you couldn't control for.
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Semi-seriously, I quite like the idea of going back to the original ancient Greek way of doing competitive sport naked. That would take care of quite a lot of the issues surrounding running shoes, swmming suits, and so on.
The comic strip Tank McNamara long ago had a Sunday strip that showed the eponymous ex-jock sportscaster stopping into a running-goods store. The weedy sales guy starts piling him up with road shoes, off-roads shoes, racing shoes, warmups, etc., etc. As Tank stands baffled at the cash register, his girl friend says "And to think the ancient Greeks did it naked."
I think it was Running magazine that did not find his amusing.
Ha! I'm a keen runner, and one of the things I love about it is that, as long as you invest in a decent pair of shoes (I'm a fan of Altra), it's pretty much cost-free. I really don't get all the super-expensive stuff unless people are getting towards Olympic level.
Haha ouch. My sport is climbing. I have a home wall and I've tried this. It does not work well for modern climbing on lots of textured volumes ;)
Would definitely make world cups more interesting to watch!!
Yeah, I'm not sure there would be too many good camera angles for climbing or the pole vault!
A series of barefoot running events sounds viable.
Big Sneaker would oppose it. Just try going into a running store and ask for a minimal shoe (single digit-mm thickness sole). They will recoil in horror and show to a big clunky 40mm job.
Which sport would say no to all that sponsorship?
source: barefoot runner
good point
This is partially what I was thinking, given that running tracks are pretty soft surfaces. Not sure how that would work for marathons though. Agree with the other commenter though that the big trainer companies would shut any talk of that down very quickly.
some sports still need equipement that need to be regulated : javelot, tennis, etc..
Sure, it wouldn't work for all aspects of all sports, but it certainly would for a lot of athletics and field sports (i.e. most of the kinds of sports that the ancient Greeks would do). And with other sports you'd level the playing field even if there were aspects you couldn't control for.