Discus and the wind--why OK?

[DrJay]

There was a thread about big discus marks at venues with favorable winds and the articles in this month's magazine. I don't think anyone brought up (on that thread) any, shall we say, discomfort with the concept. There are rules about wind speed for straightaway sprint and LJ/TJ records and altitude aid for sprint and jump records and a lot of discussion about was or was there not a mark in the plasticine in Indy and isn't that Hog indoor track downhill and were the Atlanta track and Tokyo long jump runway too firm, but wind and the discus? Bring it On!! Doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure it must be hard, if not impossible, to make rules about wind and apply them to this event, as complex as the interaction between wind and the platter likely is. Anyone else sort of feel unconfortable with this? I mean, I'm not losing sleep over it, but...? Maybe use one of these babies at the next big meet:

[tafnut]

Re: Discus and the wind--why OK?

Tailwinds DEFINITELY help the Pole Vault (once you've made the proper adjustments). A 6-inch advantage in many cases. Faster approach speed = bigger, stiffer pole, higher hand grip. I sometimes see the little 'a' after a PV mark, but never a little 'w'.

[gh]

We discussed the impossibility of measuring the wind (not to mention the even more elemntal problem of deciding what constitutes aid, let alone legal aid) at length in one of those threads.

My take is that it's a NASA-level physics problem to begin with, and the implementation of any fix would require many-zero equipment to use. Will never happen.

[eldrick]

better to give more credence to marks set in enclosed stadia ?

[DrJay]

I missed the discussion part, and understand the technical impossibility of setting parameters and making the right measurements. Since records in the event are few and far between, I guess the competition is what matters. Record progression:

69,18 Mac Wilkins USA Walnut 24.4.1976
69,80 Wilkins USA San José 1.5.1976
70,24 Wilkins USA San José 1.5.1976
70,86 Wilkins USA San José 1.5.1976
71,18 Wolfgang Schmidt GDR Berlin 9.8.1978
71,86 Juri Dumtsev SOV Moscow 29.5.1983
74,08 Jürgen Schultz GDR Neubrandenburg 6.6.1986