The marathon could be interesting. In the UK, the woman's marathon was watched with interest as a British athlete is one of the favourites (assuming that Paula Ratcliffe sorts her injuries out).
In the Athens Olympics, there were huge boards a metre high every kilometre. The commentator would look really dumb if he were to announce "They are now at the twelve mile mark" when the screen showed a huge 20'". In the Athens Olympics, Ratcliffe was suffering from a stomach bug and although she led most of the race, it took the better of her. She made a monumental effort to reach the 36 km marker. She stopped, summonsed up her strength and started again, but 100 m down the road she withdrew. The British press were divided as to whether she covered 21 miles or 22 miles. One small consolation here is that we run "10k" races, not 6 mile races. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Harry Wyeth Sent: 17 August 2008 02:28 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:41589] Olympics I told you. NBC is giving track and field--actually field--events in feet and inches. I just watched womens shot put reporting showing the shot landing at the 19 m line, and the announcer and the on-screen display showing feet and inches. Same old...same old.... HARRY WYETH
