'09 WC Berlin: One of the Best in a long while? Thoughts?

[Weights&Shoes]

In my opinion these were one of the best overall in a while, everyone of course has personal favorites and criteria for what makes a WC exciting. In my eyes the last great one was 1999 in Seville ('93, '95, '97 are also personal favs).

Things that factored into my statement were

- Weather
- Stadium
- Coverage
- Close Races
- New World & Championship Records being established
- Upsets & Redemption by Athletes

[Frans Rutten]

Re: '09 WC Berlin: One of the Best in a long while? Thoughts

In my opinion these were one of the best overall in a while, everyone of course has personal favorites and criteria for what makes a WC exciting. In my eyes the last great one was 1999 in Seville ('93, '95, '97 are also personal favs).

Things that factored into my statement were

- Weather
- Stadium
- Coverage
- Close Races
- New World & Championship Records being established
- Upsets & Redemption by Athletes

Surely great in terms of weather, stadium, coverage, close races except in 3 races. Upsets & Redemption is a regular part.

But performancewise it cannot be nearly the best Wch ever. Only 4 all time top 10 entries in the men's events, by which alienated Bolt was 3 times involved.

In the women's events only TWO all time top 10 entries, if you count relatively new events like SC and HT out.

In athletics the terminology absolute and relative has never been so confusing or should I correct this: embarassing.

[croflash]

Re: '09 WC Berlin: One of the Best in a long while? Thoughts

But performancewise it cannot be nearly the best Wch ever. Only 4 all time top 10 entries in the men's events, by which alienated Bolt was 3 times involved.

In the women's events only TWO all time top 10 entries, if you count relatively new events like SC and HT out.

In athletics the terminology absolute and relative has never been so confusing or should I correct this: embarassing.

If you really believe that performances during these WCH weren't up to a very high standard, I suppose you simply had expectations that had no chance of being matched.

[smithg]

coverage was too dream for. Between universalsports.com, flotrack, TFN emails, IAAF website (with the live scorekeeping on field events) and gawd yes the NBC/versus coverage my mind is on overload. And lets not forget IAAF radio too - definitely a different perspective but very descriptive and ran it alongside the universalsports coverage for some events or previews of some events

[Rog]

I felt the quality of performances kind of petered out as the week went on - with the men's sprints, we went from Bolt's great performances to a disappointing set of times in the 400, and eventually only one team breaking 3 minutes in the 4x400. With the women, after Fraser's and Richard's great runs the standard of the 200 final was a comedown too. The Jamaican women not breaking 42, despite their wealth of talent, was surprising. Teams recording over 3:30 indicated a real lack of depth in the 4x4.

There wasn't a single really fast distance race, and watching athletes who are used to pacemaker-led races jogging around until close to the finish hasn't interested me in years. The field events were up and down in standard, but the BBC doesn't bore us with them unduly (this is a sore point, as I'd much rather watch a throwing event, say, than a distance race but the BBC will only ever show a handful of throws for each event - little wonder we do so badly in these disciplines in the UK).

Overall I enjoyed the Championships, but would have enjoyed them more so if there has been more of a wow factor later in the week. I could have done with much better TV coverage also, but that's a common complaint.

[gh]

If you were in the stadium it was among the best ever, largely due to the fact that there's no track crowd remotely as good as a German one. It seems like everybody in the stadium is following all the field events and knows the history of all the major players. When something of significance happens they reaction instantly and appropriately. Given all the surprising German performances, it mean for a high level of excitement virtually every night.

It was a keeper, to be sure.

[Powell]

If you were in the stadium it was among the best ever, largely due to the fact that there's no track crowd remotely as good as a German one. It seems like everybody in the stadium is following all the field events and knows the history of all the major players. When something of significance happens they reaction instantly and appropriately.

It looked like nearly everyone in the stadium missed WÅ‚odarczyk's WR, though! Well, I didn't (I had been keeping an eye on the HT the whole time), but the people around me (including Mump and Flump :P ) had no clue why I suddenly became so excited

I agree in general, though - German T&F audiences are very good, not only knowledgeable, but also remarkably non-chauvinistic. If you look at how well they supported Vlasic when she was fighting Friedrich, or Bednarek when he was trying to push Spank out of the medals - in most countries the reactions of the crowd would have been very different.

[gh]

Separate thread coming on the WR-miss :-(

I had one acquaintance in the stadium who said he heard the German announcer yell "Weltrekord!!!" and he thought to himself, "what an idiot! He must have read the 14:59 in the 5000 as 13:59!"

[Frans Rutten]

Re: '09 WC Berlin: One of the Best in a long while? Thoughts

But performancewise it cannot be nearly the best Wch ever. Only 4 all time top 10 entries in the men's events, by which alienated Bolt was 3 times involved.

In the women's events only TWO all time top 10 entries, if you count relatively new events like SC and HT out.

In athletics the terminology absolute and relative has never been so confusing or should I correct this: embarassing.

If you really believe that performances during these WCH weren't up to a very high standard, I suppose you simply had expectations that had no chance of being matched.

You clearly missed the point. Why do you think I used the words absolute and relative?

[croflash]

You don't need to separate relative and absolute because the actual performance in this day and age should be appreciated and it didn't come off to me like you do. If you look back at the overall quality in the history of World Championships, Berlin stacks up pretty well.

[measurer]

I was in the stadium.
Great meet.
The announcing could have been a little better.
:wink:

[Pego]

Watching the Universal Sports webcasts (and/or some evening VS. TV), I enjoyed myself immensely. Best coverage of any global T&F event ever.

[Powell]

The announcing could have been a little better.
:wink:

Be careful - gh is watching you :P

[gh]

The 60-70% I did was the perfect half :-) (well, except for the snicker perhaps)

[Powell]

Who was doing the other 30-40%?