Posted: Jun 05, 2019 12:30 pm
Destroyer wrote:GrahamH wrote:Destroyer wrote:This is a very interesting debate. There is clearly not going to be any resolution that will satisfy everyone. I am in agreement with Cito about competition. If Nadal, Federa, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka weren't capable of beating each other on any given day, the competition would be pointless. There are many other good players capable of beating the very best, just not as frequently.
Isn't that the situation that applies here? That a champion wins most of the time but not every time?
So do you have a threshold in mind? Where does it sit between Semenya and Usain Bolt? Was Bolt too good? Does your definition of desired competition lead to an athlete like Bolt being medicated to slow him down? Would that improve competition?
Like I said, there is no easy solution in this debate. The likes of Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson etc who pretty much blew competitors away are very rare exceptions. They were, nevertheless, always pushed to the max by other very talented athletes, otherwise no one would bother to turn up for the spectacle.
How far ahead of the field do you understand Semenya to be? She holds several national records in SA but she doesn't hold the world record 800m and it was noted recently that she lost after a run of 30 victories.
So doesn't she have competition if there are women who can run faster than her?
How good is too good?