FOFC's Greatest Athlete III (interactive)

[chesapeake]

I guess Llyw is average for all 5 segments.

[Coffee Warlord]

Nielsen:

1) Average
2) All Out
3) Average
4) Average
5) All Out

[PilotMan]

avg.avg.avg.avg.allout ~Honco

And so ends the most star crossed decathalon attempt in FOFC history.

[Simbo Klice]

Avg for the first 4 and one all out last for Rambis

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Peltonen: avg-avg-avg-avg-all out

[collegesportsfanms]

Since most everybody seems to be going all-out in the last 300 meters, Schaplowsky will switch it up.

Avg, Avg, All-out, Avg, Avg

[path12]

Path will go all out in first split, average in the rest.

[DavidCorperial]

average, average, average, all out, and all out for Ginsberg

[ntndeacon]

average, average, average, average, average for Palmiero

[Breeze]

just waiting on

Ketola
Babson
Mighty
Bafou
Chilton

[JAG]

Babson - average all

[britrock88]

Bafou--All Out, then 4x Average

[Breeze]

Event 10 - 1500 Meters - Heat 1

It all comes down to this event, and 5 athletes all with legitimate chances of earning medals face off to see who will get on the podium. Babson, who led almost the entire event finds himself in second place needing to beat current leader Palmiero to take the Gold, but unfortunately, they will be in different heats. Palmiero also has to hold off Path, who is a very good 1500 meter runner. Nielsen, also typically good in the 1500 meters, will have to fight through the pain of his injury if he hopes to catch, Path, Babson, Palmiero and Peltonen. Peltonen will also have to outperform someone above him if he hopes to climb into the top 3...


As the runners take their places...the first heat consists of:

Ketola
Babson
Nielsen
Honcho
Jordan
Mighty
Rambis
Schaplowsky

The gun sounds and Babson, knowing his predicament jumps out to the early lead with Ketola and Mighty on his heals. Nielsen got bumped a bit on the start and trails the lead 3 by about half a step. The rest of the group is pretty tight, with Rambis nursing his injury in the back.

As we head into the second 300...Nielsen has made his move up to draw stride for stride with Babson, who is continuing to push hard. Mighty hangs with them, but Ketola has dropped way off the pace. Honcho's injury has dropped him back off the main group as well.

Nielsen, continues to grit his teeth and fight...as he's opened up about a 3 second lead on the field...Babson continues to use Nielsen as a pacer. Mighty holds on to third. The rest of the field is almost 10 seconds back with Ketola, Schaplowsky, and Jordan jockeying for 4th. While watching Honcho and Rambis limp around the track is a bit painful.

At the 1200 mark Nielsen is starting to pull away from the field. Even with his injury he's a good 7 seconds up on Mighty, now in second. Babson appears to be feeling the fatigue as he's dropped off the pace a bit...his last 300 split was 62 seconds.

Coming home...it's

Nielsen at a time of 4:37. Mighty with a strong kick coming in...finishes the last 300 in 54 seconds and clocks a time of 4:42. Babson fights it to the line in 4:49, not sure that's going to get it done...

Jordan wins the battle for 4th 4:57, and Ketola and Schaplowsky cross stride for stride at 4:59. Honcho can't quite beat 5 minutes with his injury, crossing at 5:01, and Rambis finally gets to the line at 5:20...

[Breeze]

Event 10 - 1500 Meters - Heat 1 Results

Nielsen		4:37
Mighty		4:42
Babson		4:49
Jordan		4:57
Schaplowsky	4:59
Ketola		4:59
Honcho		5:01
Rambis		5:20
 

[Coffee Warlord]

DANES DO NOT FEEL PAIN.

[JAG]

Way better than I ever expected Babson to do in this one.

[Breeze]

Event 10 - 1500 Meters - Heat 2

With Path, Palmiero, and Peltonen all in this heat, knowing Nielsen's 4:37 and Babson's 4:49...it'll be interesting to see how they react.

In this heat with

Path
Palmiero
Peltonen

are

Ginsberg
Bafou
Llyw
Chilton

The gun goes off, and immediately two things jump out, Palmiero and Path are out quick, but Peltonen has gotten boxed in and is forced to chop his steps and shuffle to the back to keep from being tripped up. That's going to hurt his time signficantly...

As they approach the 600 meter mark, Path has exploded with a split of 52 seconds, opening a lead of 4 seconds over Llyw and Bafou...Palmiero settled into a slower place, and Peltonen really charged back to get into striking distance.

Path used the 3rd split to recover a bit...and in doing so he watches Llyw go sailing past with a split of 51 seconds...Bafou, using Llyw as a pacer also slips by Path. Palmiero wanting to stay on a pace faster than Babson and one that keeps Path close enough that he doesn't get jumped is only 5 seconds back in the heat at this point. He's also 2 seconds off Babson's time, but Babson struggled coming home.

At the 1200 mark...as the runners head for home...Llyw and Bafou and stride for stride and Path his coming up on their outside shoulders...half a step off their pace. Palmiero stays 5 seconds behind Path. Chilton is next with Peltonen still clawing his way back. Ginsberg brings up the rear almost 10 seconds behind the rest of the field.

As they headhome...it's Llyw with the kick..finishing the last split in 52 seconds and posting a time of 4:30...Path is able to cross with Bafou to tie for second in the heat at 4:32. Palmiero can't kick with the rest of the leaders and loses more time to Path...he crosses at 4:41. Chilton lumbers home at 4:45, and all that hard work trying to close seems to have caught up to Peltonen who lost ground on the final split and ended up with a time of 4:49. Ginsberg closes the heat crossing at 4:56.

[Breeze]

Event 10 - 1500 Meter - Heat 2 Results

Llyw		4:30
Path		4:32
Bafou		4:32
Palmiero	4:41
Chilton		4:45
Peltonen	4:49
Ginsberg	4:56

[Breeze]

Event 10 - 1500 Meter - Event Results

Llyw		4:30
Path		4:32
Bafou		4:32
Nielsen		4:37
Palmiero	4:41
Mighty		4:42
Chilton		4:45
Babson		4:49
Peltonen	4:49
Ginsberg	4:56
Jordan		4:57
Schaplowsky	4:59
Ketola		4:59
Honcho		5:01
Rambis		5:20

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

15th Place
Mike Honcho - USA - 7518 Points
(555 Points in the 1500)

This one was pretty much cemented from the moment he failed to get a score in the long jump. Add to that 2 pretty significant injuries and Honcho suffered through probably the worst luck of any athlete to ever compete in the FOFC Decathlon.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

14th Place
Kurt Rambis, Jr. - USA - 8396 Points
(450 Points in the 1500)

This one was also not a big surprise. Rambis was the first athlete injured, way back on the second event of the meet, and that impacted his performance the rest of the way. Rambis fought bravely...in fact, he was able to climb as high as 5th after the Pole Vault. However, he aggrevated his injury and faded down the stretch.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

12th Place
Al Mighty - Italy – 8461 Points
(669 Points in the 1500)

Mighty got off to a poor start, which was extremely bad because the first two events were supposed to be two of his best. He did manage to perform well in the 400 and the hurdles to jump a few competitors, but ultimately, he wasn’t able to prevent them from jumping him back.


Mike Schaplowsky - Poland – 8461 Points
(566 Points in the 1500)

Was injured during the discus, which is right in the middle of his run of strong events. This, combined with underperforming in the high jump and the 400 meters is the reason Schaplowsky finds himself tied for 12th.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

11th Place
Jawouk Bafou - Cameroon – 8473 Points
(732 Points in the 1500)

A couple of weak events to kick off the decathlon followed by a poor result in the shot put and Bafou found himself buried on the leaderboard. Fought hard to move up and his strong 1500 meters allowed him to climb to 11th overall.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

10th Place
David Ginsberg - Israel – 8486 Points
(584 Points in the 1500)

Ginsberg was another competitor that found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard early. Knowing he was weak in the long jump and shot put, he really needed to get off to a good start in the 100 meters, but he didn’t. He fought his way from the bottom of the leaderboard to get into the top 10, and would have undoubtedly done even better if he hadn’t performed so poorly in the pole vault.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

9th Place
Tarc Jordan - Ireland – 8544 Points
(577 Points in the 1500)

Jordan sort of coasted his way through this meet. Early on he was hanging around the leaders, and was certainly within striking distance to compete for a medal, but he never seemed to apply himself, putting in no extra effort along the way. This certainly contributed to his 9th place finish.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

8th Place
Paavo Ketola - Finland – 8545 Points
(566 Points in the 1500)

For all of the first day and half of the second, it looked like Ketola was going to compete for a medal. He had kept himself in the top 3rd of the leaderboard up until that point. However, last 3 events are some of Ketola’s weakest, combine that with an injury in the discus and Ketola ended up a non-factor.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

7th Place
Gryffrdd Llyw - Wales – 8767 Points
(746 Points in the 1500)

The defending champion was never really a factor this time around. He got off to a slow start, but rebounded nicely with a strong high jump and 400 meters, to climb to the middle of the standings. Unfortunately, a mediocre start again on day 2 sealed any chance he had of medaling, but a strong finish in the Javelin and 1500 allowed him to climb back into the middle of the pack.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

6th Place
Eddie Chilton - UK – 8809 Points
(650 Points in the 1500)

Chilton at different times throughout this meet looked like he might contend for a medal. At the end of day 1 Chilton had climbed into 3rd place, and early on day 2 he moved up into second, but a terrible discus dropped him all the way back to 6th and he never fully recovered after that.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

5th Place
Em Peltonen - Finland – 8955 Points
(626 Points in the 1500)

Peltonen started off looking like he’d be a middle of the pack competitor, but an extremely impressive 400 meters moved him into second at the end of the first day. He opened the second day with a strong effort in the hurdles and it then became obvious he’d be battling for a medal. Mediocre results in the discus and pole vault caused Em to fall back to 4th overall. Despite a good javelin, he wasn’t able to move up in the standings because he was leapfrogged by Comrade Path. However he found himself in 4th place, only 6 points out of 3rd and less than 100 from second, but also just 70 ahead of 5th. He needed a good run to close out the meet. Unfortunately, at the start of his heat, he was boxed in and shuffled to the back which cost him precious time. When it was all said and done, he wasn’t able to outrun any of the people he was in contention with, and he slipped back to 5th overall.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

4th Place
Rob Nielsen – Denmark – 8958 Points
(700 Points in the 1500)

Nielsen started out the event with a poor 100 meters, but uncorked a huge long jump and immediately positioned himself to be factor. With some up and down results the rest of the way in day 1, Nielsen still found himself in fourth place. There were more up and down performances early in day 2, but Nielsen was still in contention, sitting in 3rd with just 2 events remaining. Unfortunately, in the first throw of the Javelin, he appeared to pull something, but he fought through the pain and pressure of going into the last throw of the event without a score on record to record a distance that kept him in contention. Then he replicated that effort in the 1500, where he willed himself to post one of the best times in the event, despite the pain from the injury. However, that amazing effort would not be enough for the big Dane to climb onto the podium, as he’d come up just 83 points shy.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results


BRONZE MEDAL
Brian Babson – Iceland – 9041 Points
(626 Points in the 1500)

The man who dominated most of this event must be feeling a bit of déjà vu…similar to the FOFC Greatest Athlete II, Babson lead most of the way, to only watch it slip away at the end. Babson was so dominating early that he not only posted a blistering 100 meters, he followed that up by taking just 1 long jump and 1 shot put attempt. That extra rest served him well, as it allowed him to perform better in the 1500 then any prognosticator would have anticipated was possible. In fact, Babson put forth a great effort in the 1500, knowing he needed to beat Palmiero if he wanted any hope of winning the gold. Unfortunately, his lack of endurance, even with the extra rest reared its ugly head as it took him over 2 minutes to run the final 600 meters.

[Coffee Warlord]

Damn, I thought I had the podium.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

SILVER MEDAL
Comrade Path – Russia – 9067 Points
(732 Points in the 1500)

Through most of the first day of the meet, Comrade Path was a bottom third competitor, only managing to scratch his way to 8th at the end of the first day, mostly due to strong results in the high jump and 400 meter run. However, it is well known that Path is a better second day competitor and he illustrated that perfectly in this meet. Even after the 8th event was completed (pole vault), Path was still just in 8th place overall, he had closed on the overall leaders with solid performances, but he’d been unable to move up the standings. That is until he uncorked a 275 foot throw in the javelin. This throw was so massive and so much better than everyone else that he shot up to 3rd overall. He followed that up with the second fastest time in the 400, really trying to close that gap on the overall leader. The effort was impressive, it just wasn’t quite enough. In fact, he came up about 4 seconds short.

[Breeze]

FOFC's Greatest Athlete - Official Results

GOLD MEDAL
Octavio Palmiero – Paraquay – 9094 Points
(675 Points in the 1500)

Palmiero is another competitor that wasn’t much of a factor in day 1. In fact, at the end of the first day the Paraquayan was in 9th, 1 place behind Path and 31 points behind the eventual silver medalist. Interestingly, Palmiero’s results early in day two were very good not excellent, but consistently good. Combine that solid start with the realization that many in front of him in the standings were off to a poor start on the second day, and he found himself in 5th place after the Discus. However, it was the huge result in the pole vault that launched Octavio into medal contention, and a very strong Javelin insured he’d be in the running for the gold in the 1500. Going into the 1500, Palmiero knew he needed to beat Babson’s time, because he only held a 4 point lead going into the event. Also he had to watch out for Path who is a strong distance runner. Using Path as his pacer…Palmiero stayed within 10 seconds of the Russian and crossed the line, hoping it would be enough…and it was.

Here is how he finished in each event:

100 Meters	5th
Long Jump	9th
Shot Put	9th
High Jump	9th
400 Meters	6th
Hurdles		6th
Discus		5th
Pole Vault	1st
Javelin		4th
1500		5th

[PilotMan]

Breeze, even though you suck at rolling dice, I just want to say thanks for another fun, well run event. It's one of the best games going, and I know it's a big effort on your part to run it, but it's truly worth it. Thanks!

Not so long in between next time!

[path12]

Comrade, you deserve a vacation in Sochi and the gratitude of the motherland!

Breeze, thanks man, lots o'fun!.

[chesapeake]

Hear, hear! Many thanks for a very fun game, Breeze!

I thought that winning the 1500 might move me closer to the podium than 7th place, but that didn't earn me as many points as I would have expected.

[ntndeacon]

Kind of a change from the last two where my guys were at the bottom!

As others have said, this was a hoot!

[DavidCorperial]

It was fun, but it stinks that I only got 10th this time.

[collegesportsfanms]

It was a blast. Can't wait til the next one so Schaplowsky can redeem himself

[JAG]

Thanks Breeze, good stuff. That failed allout in the javelin doomed Babson's gold chance along with a mediocre second day in general.

[Breeze]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it. I will try to not wait 6 years before doing another one.

I do have to admit, that I need to make some changes to the way the game is played. To begin the Pole Vault was a mess in this new version. I need to clean that up a bit so that the heights to jump match the heights on the cards and the heights in the score sheet better. Also I liked the effort point change, but I want to think about a way to implement that better. Maybe something where you get more points but even going just average will cost you...I think that might create more strategic decisions and might make the safe column come into play more often.

[britrock88]

Good stuff! Thanks for running!

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Breeze

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it. I will try to not wait 6 years before doing another one.

I do have to admit, that I need to make some changes to the way the game is played. To begin the Pole Vault was a mess in this new version. I need to clean that up a bit so that the heights to jump match the heights on the cards and the heights in the score sheet better. Also I liked the effort point change, but I want to think about a way to implement that better. Maybe something where you get more points but even going just average will cost you...I think that might create more strategic decisions and might make the safe column come into play more often.

I like that idea too.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

This was a lot of fun! Thanks for running it, Breeze.

Count me in for the next competition, too.