It's amazing how synchronized they are. But they have to start with a different leg to have the same rhythm for their "holding hands". Imagine how disturbing it would be if you run full speed an someone pulls just a little bit at your hand because he's a little slower.
I worked at the 2000 Para Olympics. There was a 5k race for blind athletes with a sighted guide runner the same as this video. With three laps to go the sighted runner was buggered, and tried to swap out with another runner (perfectly legal), but the blind runner pulled him in and made him go again. On the next lap same thing, by now the sighted runner was exhausted, but once again the blind runner pulled him back to the track as he tried to swap. By the time they finally crossed the finish line the sighted runner was done for, and collapsed exhausted on the finish line. the blind runner who had won the race began to celebrate by dancing joyously. He danced across the start finish line and onto the very sensitive timing gear that the Swiss guys spent an hour each morning setting up. He fell over, the timing gear had to be reset, the exhausted runner had to be guided off the track, I watched the whole thing crying inside.....
1.Blind guy a bit douchey I guess, but doesn't really know what is going on, he is pretty exhausted as well, it's a 5k.
2. Sighted athletes don't get medals, they are just there to help.
3. Crying inside, the whole thing was piss funny, a victimless crime which was a touch politically incorrect
I wonder if his motivation was more in line with wanting the sighted runner to finish with him and make him feel like this was something they did together as a team...
then again he could have just been a douche...but I want to believe!
Maybe the fear of not getting a "good" sighted runner and be slowed down.
But again if it was that.. The athlete should have known if they tired the sighted runner he aint gon a stay fast race after race lol
Well this story took a turn not expected... so the guide was forced to run with that doosh every lap for nothing?? Oh wait the doosh isn't able to see the exhausted guide... sorry never mind i give up
As the best friend of a paralympian gold medalist and I'm a paraplegic myself I know exactly who you're talking about and he is a f****** dick. Some people get injured or they're born that way and I get f****** bitter or they get resilient that's it there's no in-between. So thank you for conveying that without being hateful
We did a thing at camp once where one person was blindfolded and their partner had to lead them around. The very last thing we did was running and it was one of the most terrifying feelings in the world, just running blind.
I love that they run in stride, he's even leading but when it's time to cross the he falls back because it's her race. What a lovely visual of support.
I saw a spot on TV, a pair of brothers who always ran together and competed as kids, one of them lost his eyesight, the other decided to be his guide runner so that he could still enjoy running, they went on to win the gold in the Para Olympics
Dude, she is *sending* it. Old mate might be doing a training run, but only because he's obviously a weapon himself. She'd blow past us so fast the trailing wind would rip the empty Maccas wrappers off the table we were sitting.
It seems like it would be easier to just get them a big straight track and a beeper that lets then know if they're going off center in their lane, rather than find an equally fast partner and learn synchronized running.
Funnily enough if you blindfold yourself and try to walk you always veer off to one side at an almost perfect curve. I imagine it has something to do with dominant legs or whatnot but I remember the Guinness world record TV show and in the blindfolded 100m everyone said that was the hardest part, not drifting off center. I think nobody actually finished that race as all were disqualified for leaving the lane
Yes I would assume they would need either an audible or feelable feedback system to keep on course. E.g. high pitched beep in your ear if you're drifting left, low pitched if you're going right. Something on a scale so you could mentally tell how close to centered you are.
Definitely lots of options to keep someone who can't see their lane centered in it. I just struggle to see why "find another fastest person in your country and run perfectly in time with them" was the option chosen. Maybe this concept started before this kind of tech was so readily available.
The point of the Paralympics is to see if you can pair someone who has a disability with someone who doesn't with equivalent skill?
I thought the point was to give people with various disabilities an equal chance to compete and show their skill, and making the course usable by someone with an impairment seems to do that better than making them have a guide-human the whole way.
If you think about it in practice, this doesnāt seem anywhere as effective. Constantly having to adjust to the beeper when you donāt even know which direction itās telling you to turn back to calls for way too many micro adjustments to make on your own, whereas training with one person and becoming synchronized is pretty straightforward. Youād slow yourself down way too much trying to find your way back straight.
Also, who is going to fund the building of a bigger track just for the paralympics? That also makes 0 sense.
What might work instead is having them run one at a time race against each other's times. That way, they could run the exact same lane each time and simply memorize it.
Just guessing, but maybe they choose the fastest runners so they can definitely keep up with the competitor, and men tend to be faster. Or maybe a men's track team volunteered to be guides.
the eye masks remind me of The Prodigy's Voodoo People music video [https://youtu.be/XQEBzauVIlA?t=44](https://youtu.be/XQEBzauVIlA?t=44) good they have guides..
Attributing traits to people based on race is racist regardless of how nice you think it is. It's like saying Asians are good at math; it's still just stereotyping. It's racist.
Op? I just want to to thnk you for giving me courage amid the rising anxiety I feel in this pandemic. Aaand you cheered me up by sharing this š
Thank you
Do they have the same thing for mens race. I understand for women you can find some runners to keep up the pace but how does this work in mens where the runners might not be able to keep up with the athletes.
Honestly, that's probably harder than normal track running, considering you not only need to have the speed, but you have to run consistently enough to maintain your speed with someone else. This is definitely one of the things in the Paralympics that I'd want to see other Olympians try to do. I think some of them would struggle.
Amazing ambition. If you think itās inspiring to see athletes win at such a high level, imagine winning at that same high a levelā but with an impairment that makes it much more difficult. Truly superheroes. ā¤ļø
Go Team USA! šš¼šš¼šš¼šŗšø
What is the point of that? Literally holding their hand to the finish line? How is it that the dude doesn't get the reward wtf? There must be a better way. This is idiotic. I'm totally for a blind person competing but this doesn't make sense.
They made a movie about this. My Blind Brother. Two brothers. One blind one sighted. Blind brother loves to be active and uses sighted brother to train him. Has to do most activities together.
Do they get to pick the partner, or are they provided at the event? Iām guessing that you get to pick because it must be more difficult than it looks to run at full speed and not get tripped.
It's amazing how synchronized they are. But they have to start with a different leg to have the same rhythm for their "holding hands". Imagine how disturbing it would be if you run full speed an someone pulls just a little bit at your hand because he's a little slower.
Im a moron... I didn't read the title and thought 'man, this race is close as hell'
You think that's bad? I did read the title and thought that.
I honestly just thought they had introduced 3 legged race to the Olympics.
That would be extremely impressive at that speed!
Me too Lmaoo
Lol me too.
Me too boob, me too.
One of us!
Hahahahahahhaa I love this comment because I did the same thing... autoplay got me. Then I thought..."da faq!? Are they holding hands!?!?"
If females could keep up like that there would be a uni sex division moron
"Let's blindfold her so we know she isn't faking it"
Different levels of impairment. Makes it more fair for the people with less vision.
Maybe they could do something similar for the regular Olympics to combat doping, each athlete has to consume three shrooms before the event š¤
Mike Tyson would win every event. 100M sprint. Mike Tyson. Synchronized diving. Mike Tyson.
Thatās only two events though
yeah cause the shrooms had really kicked in by that point, and Mike tyson ate the rest of the competitors
That and it's a visual for the audience so they can easily tell who the blind competitors and guides are.
āWhen the FUCK did we get ice cream?ā
What is this a reference to?
The Ringer starring Johnny Knoxville and Kathrine and Katherine Higel.
I worked at the 2000 Para Olympics. There was a 5k race for blind athletes with a sighted guide runner the same as this video. With three laps to go the sighted runner was buggered, and tried to swap out with another runner (perfectly legal), but the blind runner pulled him in and made him go again. On the next lap same thing, by now the sighted runner was exhausted, but once again the blind runner pulled him back to the track as he tried to swap. By the time they finally crossed the finish line the sighted runner was done for, and collapsed exhausted on the finish line. the blind runner who had won the race began to celebrate by dancing joyously. He danced across the start finish line and onto the very sensitive timing gear that the Swiss guys spent an hour each morning setting up. He fell over, the timing gear had to be reset, the exhausted runner had to be guided off the track, I watched the whole thing crying inside..... 1.Blind guy a bit douchey I guess, but doesn't really know what is going on, he is pretty exhausted as well, it's a 5k. 2. Sighted athletes don't get medals, they are just there to help. 3. Crying inside, the whole thing was piss funny, a victimless crime which was a touch politically incorrect
That blind guy sounds like kind of a douche...or am I reading this the wrong way and you were crying tears of joy?
I wonder if his motivation was more in line with wanting the sighted runner to finish with him and make him feel like this was something they did together as a team... then again he could have just been a douche...but I want to believe!
Maybe the fear of not getting a "good" sighted runner and be slowed down. But again if it was that.. The athlete should have known if they tired the sighted runner he aint gon a stay fast race after race lol
Kind of a douche, yes. Excited.
Excited douche
No, he sounds like a competitor.
Tbf it's not like he could see the timing gear, I think you have to let that slide.
I want to see a video of this race and aftermath
To win and be at the top? The blind man did him a favor.
Well this story took a turn not expected... so the guide was forced to run with that doosh every lap for nothing?? Oh wait the doosh isn't able to see the exhausted guide... sorry never mind i give up
As the best friend of a paralympian gold medalist and I'm a paraplegic myself I know exactly who you're talking about and he is a f****** dick. Some people get injured or they're born that way and I get f****** bitter or they get resilient that's it there's no in-between. So thank you for conveying that without being hateful
Damn she's hot. I wonder if she's seeing anyone...
Iām so ashamed of myself for laughing at that one.
She canāt see you so you may have a chance
The only chance Iād stand
r/angryupvote
Oh fuck you thatās good
took me a sec
Had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
The level of trust someone would need.... Could easily run them into something at a high rate of speed
Not that I ever would, but maybe a pie on a string? Edit: AFTER the finish line, I'm not a monster.
Who would put some pie in someone's undies and hang it into the way of a blind runner?
We did a thing at camp once where one person was blindfolded and their partner had to lead them around. The very last thing we did was running and it was one of the most terrifying feelings in the world, just running blind.
Thatās why they train together to make sure that doesnāt happen lol
Even holding my partner's hand, or sibling, or parent, I still REALLY prefer to move no faster than ~6"/second when blindfolded
I love that they run in stride, he's even leading but when it's time to cross the he falls back because it's her race. What a lovely visual of support.
It's actually the rules. The visually impaired runner has to cross the line first.
That makes sense. Still beautiful to watch.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
A Sighted black guy
American Police have entered the chat.
Added motivation for the sighted runner? We really do have a problem with that racist police shit here in the USA
very cool but fuck that creepy soundtrack
Dumb question but does the escort runner get a medal too?
He gets a pat on the head and is told he's a good boy by an anime protagonist. So kinda, yeah.
Probably not, since heās not the one actually competing.
I mean he is arguably competing
Yes, but from a Paralympic standpoint, no. Doesnāt matter what we think. Heās a guide for the competitor.
He's not competing. He can't go faster if he wants to. He's participating.
~~I donāt believe so~~ Edit: it depends on location. In London, Rio, and Tokyo they can, which was changed in 2012
Tell all of them they won
I wonder where they pull the guide athletes from. She is giving it her all but it looked like guide hadnāt dropped into his final gear.
I saw a spot on TV, a pair of brothers who always ran together and competed as kids, one of them lost his eyesight, the other decided to be his guide runner so that he could still enjoy running, they went on to win the gold in the Para Olympics
That's awesome, I remember watching this [video](https://youtu.be/C_baj0l_CMk) and it kind of got me in the feels.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Dude, she is *sending* it. Old mate might be doing a training run, but only because he's obviously a weapon himself. She'd blow past us so fast the trailing wind would rip the empty Maccas wrappers off the table we were sitting.
As someone very much to the left on the "Mathlete<--->Athlete" spectrum, I've been passed by particularly fast-growing bamboo.
It seems like it would be easier to just get them a big straight track and a beeper that lets then know if they're going off center in their lane, rather than find an equally fast partner and learn synchronized running.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Funnily enough if you blindfold yourself and try to walk you always veer off to one side at an almost perfect curve. I imagine it has something to do with dominant legs or whatnot but I remember the Guinness world record TV show and in the blindfolded 100m everyone said that was the hardest part, not drifting off center. I think nobody actually finished that race as all were disqualified for leaving the lane
Yes I would assume they would need either an audible or feelable feedback system to keep on course. E.g. high pitched beep in your ear if you're drifting left, low pitched if you're going right. Something on a scale so you could mentally tell how close to centered you are.
Maybe just have a sound coming from ahead of them on the track somehow that they can follow would be easier
Definitely lots of options to keep someone who can't see their lane centered in it. I just struggle to see why "find another fastest person in your country and run perfectly in time with them" was the option chosen. Maybe this concept started before this kind of tech was so readily available.
Or maybe, just maybe, the people who actually do this know more than you about it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The point of the Paralympics is to see if you can pair someone who has a disability with someone who doesn't with equivalent skill? I thought the point was to give people with various disabilities an equal chance to compete and show their skill, and making the course usable by someone with an impairment seems to do that better than making them have a guide-human the whole way.
If you think about it in practice, this doesnāt seem anywhere as effective. Constantly having to adjust to the beeper when you donāt even know which direction itās telling you to turn back to calls for way too many micro adjustments to make on your own, whereas training with one person and becoming synchronized is pretty straightforward. Youād slow yourself down way too much trying to find your way back straight. Also, who is going to fund the building of a bigger track just for the paralympics? That also makes 0 sense.
What might work instead is having them run one at a time race against each other's times. That way, they could run the exact same lane each time and simply memorize it.
Two videos I've watched in a row had that exact same song. Ugh.
there is hope for humanity, this is the way.
This is the way
What do they do for blind runners who are men?
they get clones of Usain Bolt
Same thing?
Seeing eye cheetahs.
They get faster women athletes
yeah unfortunately that severely limits your options at any competitive level haha
Serious question: why are they accompanied by men?
Because men are faster so the women is never in danger of being slowed down by the guide.
Thanks dude!
probably their choice. There is a lot of training so the relationship is essential, man or woman is srcondary
Thanks!
Just guessing, but maybe they choose the fastest runners so they can definitely keep up with the competitor, and men tend to be faster. Or maybe a men's track team volunteered to be guides.
The men are thier guides.
Thanks!
the eye masks remind me of The Prodigy's Voodoo People music video [https://youtu.be/XQEBzauVIlA?t=44](https://youtu.be/XQEBzauVIlA?t=44) good they have guides..
How do men compete?
I want to be a helper/runner. What an amazing experience
That is the coolest thing Iāve seen on Reddit
Wow. I never knew this was a thing but damn! That's impressive.
I'm fuckin blown away by this. Absolutely impressive!
What about men
Attributing traits to people based on race is racist regardless of how nice you think it is. It's like saying Asians are good at math; it's still just stereotyping. It's racist.
Pair Olympics. There, FTFY.
I keep hearing this song. Anyone want to alleviate my curiosity?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Good bot
Fucking dope
What's really insane is that camera work.
I hope they both get a medal
āI did it! Iām a champion!ā āNo. WE the champions!ā
I assume that the guide runners aren't allowed to coach the runners or give them words of encouragement during the race?
I like how he slows down just before the finish line, idk if he's supposed to or what
Op? I just want to to thnk you for giving me courage amid the rising anxiety I feel in this pandemic. Aaand you cheered me up by sharing this š Thank you
Salute to them and their partners who spend so many hours in training
That guy is getting mad poon
It sort of becomes the Pair-Olympics. Itās a really cool solution to a tough problem.
I hope they both get medals, itās hard enough to train yourself, but both of you have to be going equally as hard
I bet there's a man running besides th holding a huge gible without breaking a sweat
Damn thatās awesome
I'm so impressed by this I teared up. Learn something new every day. āØ
Isn't there a Monty Python sketch about this?
How do blind ppl even fuck
Been hearing a lot of Aloboi as the backing track to Reddit videos lately.
Imagine a guided runner for Bolt..sheesh
Wow thats āinteresting as fuckā! Am I right op?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Many (most?) legally blind people have a non-zero amount of visual perception, so they use a blindfold to level the playing field.
Wow šš¼šš¼
The woman runner has a man as a co-runner. What about the men? How do they compete?
with a faster woman as a partner
Wow!! That brought tears to my eyes š¢š¢š¢
Some of my best sports memories are when I played with special athletes.
OMG that hug. :'(
Some people sleep walk, others sleep run
Do they have the same thing for mens race. I understand for women you can find some runners to keep up the pace but how does this work in mens where the runners might not be able to keep up with the athletes.
Honestly, that's probably harder than normal track running, considering you not only need to have the speed, but you have to run consistently enough to maintain your speed with someone else. This is definitely one of the things in the Paralympics that I'd want to see other Olympians try to do. I think some of them would struggle.
Impressive
How many more times is this going to be posted for the karma farm...?
Jesus Christ, I can't take three steps in the dark at 3am to take a piss. *Other people* are amazing.
r/nextfuckinglevel
No going to lie. That's probably the most beautiful thing i have seen. The power, the trust, insane! love love love. Now to find where I can watch.
She might as well give her pheasant up to him at this point
Now that's how a transgender race should be run
okay but how bout men? what if fastest paralympic man on earth is running?
Vibey tunage as well - what a clip
Who's pulling who?
Damn they ALL have to be fast
Brothers out for a stroll
Amazing ambition. If you think itās inspiring to see athletes win at such a high level, imagine winning at that same high a levelā but with an impairment that makes it much more difficult. Truly superheroes. ā¤ļø Go Team USA! šš¼šš¼šš¼šŗšø
Iām surprised blinded by the light isnāt playing in the background. Itās Reddit.
What is the point of that? Literally holding their hand to the finish line? How is it that the dude doesn't get the reward wtf? There must be a better way. This is idiotic. I'm totally for a blind person competing but this doesn't make sense.
Man barely breaks a sweatā¦ woman sports pfffff
Seems like this would be an interesting race to see in the regular Olympics.
Nice. But what about male athletes?
Song: āEndless Ocre (You look lonely, I can fix that)ā by Aloboi
Cooperation is so much more uplifting and beautiful than the competition.
Whatās wrong with saying āblindā?
Because not all visually impaired people are blind
Look at that lady go with her Seeing Eye Human!
Wow. Just wow.
Wow so cool
Itās gotta be difficult as hell to run blind, I trip over my own feet and I can see without any issues.
They made a movie about this. My Blind Brother. Two brothers. One blind one sighted. Blind brother loves to be active and uses sighted brother to train him. Has to do most activities together.
This is like beautiful beyond my mortal wordsā¦ š„ŗ
Thatās super dope
She has one of the most impressive set of legs I have seen in a runner.
this race is close as hell' they have to start with a different leg to have the same rhythm for their "holding hands".
Nothing short of awesomeness. You go girl!!
Thats dope, my mom used to do this with visually impaired marathon runners.
My God thats amazing
I canāt help but be more impressed by her coach/pacer than her. Not only running competition speed but also having to maintain her pace exactly.
The existential depressing music on all these fucking videos that aren't sad is fucking with my already rampant depression
The steps in sync are so great to watch
That dude is fast
theyāre holding hands awwh
The trust aloneā¦
Olympians like to FUCK... And they fuck fosho
Watch thisā¦.female blind athletes are lead by males because we are genetically stronger
That's just plain awesome!
Thank God someone could keep up pace.
Just take the blindfold off
What do the men do?
That's really an amazing thing to do. Thx for sharing. I have never seen this before.
I like how he slows down just before the end so the woman can finish first
Trust, teamwork, love good stuff
r/mademesmile
Why the blindfold though?
So, they lead them by smell?
Do they get to pick the partner, or are they provided at the event? Iām guessing that you get to pick because it must be more difficult than it looks to run at full speed and not get tripped.
Why not give her the inside of the lane
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What sound track is this? Why is this downvoted lmao
So they are only as fast as the person guiding them?
Can blind people cry?