My
event is the 100 and 400 Meter Hurdles. After World War I is when women started
competing in the hurdles sprint race, but the distances varied a lot in the
beginning. There was a 100 meter hurdle in the 1922 Women’s World Games, but
from 1926-1968 the races became 80 meters with 8 hurdles. In the 1960’s they
started doing trial runs and then first implemented the 100 meter hurdle again
in the 1969 European Athletics Championships in Athens, and then was brought to
the Olympics in 1972. This event has 10
hurdles each standing at 2.75ft. The first hurdle is 13 meters away from the
starting line and then the rest of the hurdles are all set 8.5 meters away from
one another and is scored by how fast you make it to the finish line. Fallen
Hurdles will not count against your score unless you run into them on purpose,
but the hurdles are weighted so knocking them over effects your run time. The
fastest runners of the 100 meter hurdles usually finish in about 12.5 seconds
and the world record is held by Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria at 12.21 seconds.
This event is also only run by women as men run a 110 meter hurdle.
The 400 meter hurdle goes all the
way back to 1860 when a race in Oxford, England was held, even though this race
was actually a little over 400 meters. This race became a part of the Olympics
for men in 1900. The first women 400 meter hurdle wasn’t held until 1971, then
officially became recognized a women’s discipline in 1974 and then was
introduced as a women’s event in the Olympics in 1984. 400 meters is equivalent
to 1 full lap around an outdoor track and there are 10 hurdles evenly spaced
out. In this race you have a block start and each runner must stay in their
respective lane. Like the 100 meter there is no penalty for knocking hurdles
over, but again they are weighted and do slow runners down. The fastest men
usually finish in about 47 seconds while the women usually finish in about 53
seconds. The men’s world record came at the 1992 Olympics by American runner
Kevin Young who finished in 46.78, and the women’s world record was set by
Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia in 2003 at 52.34 seconds.
Our
volunteering at this year’s EAC doesn’t
start for a few more days so we have been going around Amsterdam and some of
the other areas near by to see the country and learn about their culture. We
have gone on a few trips and tours as a group and also got to experience the
city on our own in smaller groups, but my favorite two things we have done so
far are go to the cheese market in Holland, and then the canal vaulting. The
cheese market is incredible and I got to taste some really good cheese that I
did not expect to like. They also had a lot of cool little shops that I got
most of my gifts for family and friends from. Then the canal vaulting, which I
did not know existed until this trip, was a blast, though I was pretty upset I
did not get to try the canal vault that they do in competitions because they do
not let first timers try even though they thought I would’ve made it. Another
thing that I really enjoy here, and the little groups I’ve been hanging out
with know, is talking to local people and other tourists from around the world
to learn about their culture, language, and lifestyles such as they do not have
a middle school in Amsterdam, maybe all of Netherlands but I’m not positive,
you just go from elementary to high school. We are going to Anne Frank’s house
later today which I am very excited to see, this city is so unique with so much
history it’s unbelievable and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead on the rest
of our trip.
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