Slow down: longer races offer fans more than sprints do

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. IT IS NOT easy to predict which athletes will stick in the mind when an Olympic games ends, although Simone Biles is usually a good bet. Underdogs will triumph; local favourites will delight; the greats will be brought low and the humble raised high.

The winners of the women’s and men’s 100-metre sprints, however, always stand a good chance of being among the Olympic darlings. Not only do they take home gold medals. They also lay strong claim to dazzling superlatives: the world’s fastest woman and the world’s fastest man.

Sometimes the outsized attention 100-metres champions receive is richly deserved. The performances of Jesse Owens at the Berlin games of 1936 undermined the Nazis’ propaganda efforts. More recently, the eight gold medals that Usain Bolt won across the Olympics of 2008, 2012 and 2016 won him not only international renown but also the highest earnings in the history of athletics.

But think about it another way. The top-ranked male sprinters cover 100 metres in less than ten seconds. The best women need a little over ten and a half.

These bursts of speed are among the most watched events at any Olympic games. But the excitement, for television viewers at least, is over rather quickly. After a replay or two it’s back to the canoeing.

There are no tactics; no time for a story to develop. Despite the spotlight that is shone on the sprints, the longer races, from the 800 metres to the marathon, can make a more rewarding spectacle. There are two reasons why the average person is better able to relate to elite long-distance running than to sprinting.