Steffi Graf - trivia question
Ian
is just under 2mins set by Charlene Rendina in 1976.
I'm sure I remember an article on Steffi Graf in the mid-80's in a tennis
magazine that credited her with a hand-timed sub-2minute 800m.
Any trivia buffs out there able to confirm what a remarkable athlete she
was?
Yama
"Ian" <i...@chbc.no.spam.biz> wrote in message
news:3c6af38d$0$27940$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...
In fact Steffi Graf is an Olympic silvermedalist from 800 meters at Sydney
two years ago.
Amy Cottrell
Ian wrote in message <3c6af38d$0$27940$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au>...
It wasn't under 2 minutes. It was like 2:05 or 2:06. Still not bad, though.
Georgiana Gates
Austrian, not German.
Ian
"Yama" <tj...@paju.oulu.fi> wrote in message
news:a4etql$e15$1...@ousrvr3.oulu.fi...
Ian
talking about Steffi Graf the tennis player.
Amy Cottrell's response I'm sure is more relevant, noting 2:05 or
thereabouts. My memory must be defective.
Your Steffi is from memory Stephanie Graf who competed at Sydney 2000.
"Georgiana Gates" <ram...@hal-pc.org> wrote in message
news:3C6B14...@hal-pc.org...
Ian
mine. The only reason I have sub-2 in mind is that, just after reading this
mag, I was at Chandler stadium in Brisbane where the Commonwealth Games had
been held. They had the 800m record up on an honour board (set during the
Games - can't remember, thought it was just over 2min) and I thought I
remembered Steffi as having been quicker/around the mark. Where does your
memory come from?
"Amy Cottrell" <amy.co...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:A6Ea8.2488$t83.6...@paloalto-snr1.gtei.net...
Amy Cottrell
Ian wrote in message <3c6b1a85$0$27938$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au>...
>Amy, you obviously have heard this so your memory is probably better than
>mine. The only reason I have sub-2 in mind is that, just after reading this
>mag, I was at Chandler stadium in Brisbane where the Commonwealth Games had
>been held. They had the 800m record up on an honour board (set during the
>Games - can't remember, thought it was just over 2min) and I thought I
>remembered Steffi as having been quicker/around the mark. Where does your
>memory come from?
There was a tennis mag article from the 1987-1989 period that mentioned her
speed at the 800m being only a few seconds over 2 minutes. I think the
article said that if she had trained expressly for it, she could likely run
sub-2.
Sam
> I'm sure I remember an article on Steffi Graf in the mid-80's in a tennis
> magazine that credited her with a hand-timed sub-2minute 800m.
> Any trivia buffs out there able to confirm what a remarkable athlete she
> was?
Someone on r.s.t pointed out during the Sydney Olympics that the 1988
(or thereabouts) article was actually about the Austrian runner
Stefanie Graf who won a silver medal in the 800m event at Sydney. I
*think* I've read some interviews with our Graf where some 800m trial
during the Seoul Games is mentioned. I guess *someone* on r.s.t or on
a.f.s-g ought to know.
Georgiana Gates
> Someone on r.s.t pointed out during the Sydney Olympics that the 1988
> (or thereabouts) article was actually about the Austrian runner
> Stefanie Graf who won a silver medal in the 800m event at Sydney. I
> *think* I've read some interviews with our Graf where some 800m trial
> during the Seoul Games is mentioned. I guess *someone* on r.s.t or on
> a.f.s-g ought to know.
Charity
I am sure that SHE doesn't have 107 titles including 22 grand slam
titles in tennis nor does she hold the record for weeks as a number 1
player. Nor does she have have a calendar year grand slam and along
with an Olympic Gold medal.
Wow.
You know, tennis fans really should appreciate what they had in the
past and what they have now. What Steffi Graf achieved 14 years ago in
1988 at age of <b>19</b> (the golden slam) has not been achieved by
anyone since.And that was in an era with the great Martina Navratilova
and Chris Evert.
"Yama" <tj...@paju.oulu.fi> wrote in message news:<a4etql$e15$1...@ousrvr3.oulu.fi>...
Lloyd
was a tennis mag article from the 1987-1989 period that mentioned her
> speed at the 800m being only a few seconds over 2 minutes. I think the
> article said that if she had trained expressly for it, she could likely
run
> sub-2.
>
And here for your perusal is that article from "Australian Tennis" :
The Greatest Athlete Of Them All - by Alan Trengove.
There are many reasons why Steffi Graf is a great champion to watch, even
when she is wiping an opponent off the centre court 6-0, 6-0. Her wonderful
forehand, sometimes played with both feet off the ground, is a joy to
behold - unless you are on the receiving end. No woman has hit the ball so
consistently hard and accurately.
Graf's court demeanor and her eagerness to get on with the game have
also won her admirers at a time when many men players have become boringly
slow between points. Her courage in fighting out those few matches in which
she is seriously extended is another attribute her fans enjoy.
But perhaps finally what she will be most remembered for is her
athleticism. She is almost certainly the most gifted natural athlete to have
played championship tennis, and in this respect alone she is setting a new
benchmark for players of the future.
Before Graf, the best athlete among women tennis players was probably
Margaret Smith, who enhanced her natural ability by physical training,
notably at the Melbourne gymnasium then owned by Frank Sedgman and managed
by Stan Nicholes. Margaret was not as fast and did not hit the ball as hard
as StelTi but she was a better all-court player with a more developed
instinct for net play. (On the other hand, Steffi, at 20, may be far short
of her peak, and her doubles experience is improving her volleying all the
time.)
Up to Margaret Smith's time, few women players bothered with training;
and going right back to the 1920s and beyond, the general view was that it
was unnatural and possibly harmful for women to over-exert themselves in
sport.
The first woman Grand Slammer, Maureen Connolly, was not especially
athletic, and the remarkable Billie Jean King was handicapped by her
shortness. Both these players made up for physical deficiencies with an
exceptional capacity to concentrate and a fierce will to win. More
recently, Chris Evert, while a quick mover around the baseline and
beautifully balanced, was nowhere near as robust as Graf; and Martina
Navratilova, though strong and athletic, has lacked the speed and
devastating power contained in Grafs forehand.
Joseph Keul, a West German sports medicine expert, has predicted that
Graf will not reach her peak until she is 26. He says she has 38 percent
greater lung capacity and a 40 percent larger heart than the normal woman.
Whereas the deepest breath of a normal woman will take in about 4.5 litres
of air, Graf can easily breathe in 5.5 litres.
"There are some 5,300,000 oxygen-carrying red blood-cells jumping
around in each cubic centimetre of Steffi's body, again much more than
normal," says Dr Keul.
"If she wanted to give up tennis and train for the 800 metres, she
would be a top middle-distance runner in time for the 1992 Olympics in
Barcelona.
Dr Keul's statement is not as fanciful as at first it might seem, for
Graf has long wanted to be an Olympic athlete. It was partly her love of
track and field events that made her so keen to compete at the 1988 Olympic
Games.
In a revealing interview with John Roberts of The Independent newspaper
in Britain, Pavel Slozil, Graf's coach, has described Steffi's up-to-now
secret ambition. "The first thing on Steffi's mind when she passed Martina
Navratilova and moved to No. 1 on the computer was to finish tennis and try
to run in the 800 metres at the Seoul Olympics," said Slozil. "It wasn't
possible, of course, but the first thing she did in the Olympics, the
morning after a 20-hour flight - and I was angry I didn't know about it -
was she went out running in the athletics practice stadium with some West
German 400 metres men.
"Once you are very fast, then you can play tennis the way she's playing.
Being on time to hit the ball is the most important thing. If you are late,
you cannot make such a good shot as she does. This is a big advantage for
her.
"Steffi is a very good athlete on the court. She can play four hours a
day, it's no problem for her. If she's not running enough in practice she
tells me, 'Can you give me more, right and left?' Her body needs to run. You
would think she has a turbo engine.
"If she's not a tennis player next time she's born, she's for sure a
runner. I think she has the talent to be a better athlete than a tennis
player, which is not an easy thing to say after she has won the Grand Slam.
Her father talks about unbelievable times, under two minutes five seconds
[for the 800, metres]. With a good coach she has a chance to run very, very
well if she practises specifically for 800 metres or 400 metres."
Slozil, a former Czech Grand Prix player, has achieved far more with
the young woman from Bruehl than he was ever able to manage for himself. She
has provided him with the high points of his career in tennis (though a
recent report claimed he had been given an ultimatum from his wife to cut
down on his time-consuming commitments with Steffi or else ... ).
Slozil declares that Steffi is as strong mentally as she is physically;
a rare combination in a tennis player. Much of her mental strength appears
to be derived from her father, who took up the game at a fairly late age and
turned himself into a pretty fair club player. "You don't have to really
work on her mental attitude," says Slozil, "but if she needs something, I
still think her father is the best person she can talk to."
A good part of his time as coach has been taken up with trying to
improve Grafs attacking game. This hasn't been easy because she grew up
preferring backcourt play. Slozil was never noted for his own net game,
though he was an outstanding doubles player. In teaching Graf how to be more
aggressive, he claims to have improved his own serving and volleying.
It is well known that he has tried to give Graf a topspin backhand and
to teach her how to use her backhand slice better. Can she also improve her
forehand?
"Yes, of course," says Slozil, "but when you play every day you don't
see such a big difference. Many people come after four or six months and
say, 'She's hitting much harder', and it's true. The forehand gets stronger
and stronger still. She needs another two years maybe to play her best. She
has to work on many, many shots: her attacking game, using shots not only in
a simple way, but using them sometimes tactically. She's learning very
fast."
Perhaps, if Steffi is learning that fast, she'll still have time to
line-up on the track at Barcelona!
Sam
> Wait, wouldn't the Austrian Graf have been awfully young in 1988?
I don't know how old the Austrian Graf is now and figured that if
she's in her 30s, maybe the 1988 article *could* have been referring
to her.
Ian
"Sam" <sa...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:4a3c01da.02021...@posting.google.com...
Ian
head and Lloyd comes along with the actual article.
I knew someone here would know all about it. As you said first Amy, even at
2:05 or thereabouts, it's still a pretty fair result for someone not
training for the event.
Thanks for the contributions, cheers, Ian.
"Amy Cottrell" <amy.co...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:MpFa8.2742$t83.7...@paloalto-snr1.gtei.net...
GAIL A. FULLMAN
Charity wrote:
> The individual Yama is writing about is an Austrian runner.
>
> I am sure that SHE doesn't have 107 titles including 22 grand slam
> titles in tennis nor does she hold the record for weeks as a number 1
> player. Nor does she have have a calendar year grand slam and along
> with an Olympic Gold medal.
> Wow.
> You know, tennis fans really should appreciate what they had in the
> past and what they have now. What Steffi Graf achieved 14 years ago in
> 1988 at age of <b>19</b> (the golden slam) has not been achieved by
> anyone since.And that was in an era with the great Martina Navratilova
> and Chris Evert.
One must remember that the Olympics were not an option for Martina and Chris for many
year. The golden slam is quite a unique achievement as it is only possible every 4
years. Yes, Steffi won a grand slam and that is a major achievement, one that should
be appreciated for many years, especially since it seems players are not as
well-rounded on all surfaces any more. But Martina and Chris have some very notable
results from the slams as well, and these, also, should not be forgotten. All three
women brought much to the game and did much to promote the game.
Yama
> different person. I was referring to the tennis player. (see Amy's
response)
Hey, you didn't specify _which_ Steffi Graf! :)
Ian
to mid-80's & the fact that the whole thing was based on the remarkable time
(i.e. for a non-athlete), located the right person. Good lesson however, in
the need to be specific.
"Yama" <tj...@paju.oulu.fi> wrote in message
news:a4h4tf$sgc$1...@ousrvr3.oulu.fi...
Brian
She would have been fast enough to get a full scholarship to pretty much any
school if she wanted.
Here is a link to the NCAA I qualifying standards for the finals..
http://www.ncaachampionships.com/trk/wotrk/womens1_odqualstand_2002.html
And if she was only 20 years old when she was running those kind of times
(0:02:05). She would have hand no problems getting far beneath the 3 minute
mark.
Ian
runner
"Brian" <sup...@mts.net> wrote in message
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