Do women athletes want to do decathlon rather than Heptahlon?

kal7

Just had a thought, that most if not all, other events are equal for male and females.

Do female heptathletes want to do the decathlon rather than heptathlon?

walshb

kal7 wrote: »

Just had a thought, that most if not all, other events are equal for male and females.

Do female heptathletes want to do the decathlon rather than heptathlon?

I reckon they would rather the 7 events than the ten.....

I don't think their bodies would stand up to it like the men.

The additional Pole vault and discus are very taxing on the body.

Plus, they don't do the 400 metres....800 instead of the more grueling final event 1500.....

The decathlon is very much more suited to the stronger male body composition.

robinph

It being tough isn't a reason to not do it. Women do all of the events within the decathlon as individual events, why wouldn't they be able to do them all in two days...other than finding time in the schedule for three extra events.

kal7

It would be difficult to schedule alright. Just wondered whether there is an appetite for it?

Although don't know of many multieventers in Ireland.

the_syco

https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/29242699

Toni Minichiello, coach of Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, says organisational difficulties - he refers to "bottle-necking" in the past in competitions with both men's and women's decathlon - and a lack of desire to expand from heptathlon's seven to decathlon's 10 events are reasons it is not popular.

"I wouldn't be a supporter of it, not at this stage, but I would certainly support adding another track event, maybe the 100m, and making it eight events over two days," says Minichiello.

Minichiello on the changes to consider
"The women hurdles are 2ft 9in while the men hurdle over 3ft 6in. Should the hurdles be higher? Are they favouring the shorter, faster flat sprinter? In the women's 400m hurdles, the barriers are so small they're insignificant, really. It's not a hurdling event. Elsewhere, the 1kg discus that the women throw, it's a bit pathetic because they are so much stronger than the implement."
"Every time women's decathlon has been raised by the International Association of Athletics Federations, there's been little support from athletes and organisers because of the logistics of putting it on. Budgeting and television also dictates a lot.

An interesting piece. And if the heptathlon were to increase to 10, should everything else be equalized, for heights and weights of things?

morceli

Well they have done it in the past and WR still do stand for the event.

artanevilla

Aren't women better at multitasking anyway?

Chivito550

People say it’s not equal but it benefits women IMO. Female multi eventers have way more opportunities in the sport than their male counterparts.

The reason for this? Because women only have to contend with 7 events, it is a hell of a lot more realistic to be world class in multi evening AND in individual events simultaneously. If you are world class in an individual event then you’ve got Diamond League appearances etc, and just in general a better chance to make a good living from the sport.

Jackie Joyner Kersee, Eunice Barber, Carolina Kluft, Jessica Ennis, Nafi Thiam, Dafne Schippers, KJT, and so on. The list is endless. There are so many world class multi eventers who were also world class in individual events.

On the men’s side? I can’t think of any.

You don’t see a lot of decathletes at Diamond League meets, and in general are not household names like the women are.

Even Ashton Eaton wasn’t truly world class in any of his 10 disciplines. You could argue his 45.00 at 400m is, but that doesn’t cut the mustard these days over that distance.

This situation suits women. Leave it as it is I say.

robinph

But is it easier for women to be at the top level at multi-events and also an individual event just because the depth of the field is significantly smaller in most of the womens events? Which causes the bigger difference, the 3 fewer events to train for or that there are significantly less women competing at the top level in pretty much any sport?

Chivito550

robinph wrote: »

But is it easier for women to be at the top level at multi-events and also an individual event just because the depth of the field is significantly smaller in most of the womens events? Which causes the bigger difference, the 3 fewer events to train for or that there are significantly less women competing at the top level in pretty much any sport?

Depth may be smaller but that doesn’t explain why so many multi eventers on the women’s side have nailed individual events while men have not. It comes down to the nature of the event. Only having 7 events means you can focus more time on your best discipline than you could if you trained for 10 events. It really is that simple.

robinph

But how close are the multi-event women to the top people in individual events in performance/ percentage terms rather than position/ ranking?

Chivito550

robinph wrote: »

But how close are the multi-event women to the top people in individual events in performance/ percentage terms rather than position/ ranking?

Well Jessica Ennis ran 12.54 in the hurdles (albeit in a one off race with no heats or semi finals beforehand). That's Olympic medal standard.

Nafi Thiam jumped higher in Rio than the High Jump gold medallist.

Jackie Joyner Kersee is one of the longest jumpers in history (7.49m).

Schippers won a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the worlds, and was still training as a heptathlete when she ran 22.0x for 200m (has improved since specialising of course).

Eunice Barber jumped 7.05m in the long jump and won a world title, days after being beaten in the heptathlon.

I could go on all day.

Devils advocate much?