At the Athens Olympics, the British woman's marathon hopeful, Paula Radcilffe was suffering from a stomach bug. Although she led for much of the race, things caught up with her and she visibly got to the 36 km mark (denoted by a huge "36"). She stopped, summoned up strength, and then withdrew a short distance afterwards. Even though millions of Britons saw this on television and the commentator used the word "36 kilometre mark", the press was divided as to whether she had covered 21 miles, 21.5 miles or 22 miles.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 15 February 2010 00:01 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:46650] NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics In the end, the luge is scored entirely by summing finish times. However, during the run, some split times and speeds are available. The speeds, like everything else are SI, kilometers per hour, and NBC flashes those graphics on screen. Apparently the announcers get instant coversion and yack endlessly in miles per hour while you are looking at on screen graphices in km/h. The disconnect is both annoying and confusing. NBC: Please let have the REAL results. Don't bother converting. (You will be less confused if you mute the announcers and just read on-screen graphics.) Fortunately, there are fewer Winter events they can screw up with unnecessary conversion. compared to the Summer Olympics.
