Another four years have passed, which means it's once again time for millions of people to gather around computers, phones, and televisions to cheer on their favorite candidate running to win one of the greatest races on Earth. No, I'm not taking about the US presidential election; I am, of course, talking about the Olympic Games kicking off this week in Brazil.
Being a numerically minded dude, I love to ponder the quantitative angles of the games. Many of the events in the Olympics are all about speed, which got me wondering: How fast do Olympic race walkers walk, Olympic sprinters sprint, and Olympic swimmers swim? And how do these speeds compare to those of non-human things like cars and planes?
It's time for a quintet of numerical fun facts about Olympic speeds.
Fun Fact 1: How Fast Do Olympic Race Walkers Walk?
In my opinion, the most underrated Olympic sport is race walking. If you've never seen this event, do yourself a favor and check it out. As its name implies, race walking is a race in which you walk. Although, as you'll see, this version of "walking" bears little resemblance to a typical amble, mosey, stroll, or even shuffle. The big rule in race walking—and the reason it's classified as "walking"—is that one foot must always be (at least fleetingly) in contact with the ground.
World class race walkers "walk" 6 minute miles!
It's amazing just how quickly a human can locomote with this restriction. Which leads us to today's first speed-related numerical fun fact. The world record race walk time was set by Yusuke Suzuki during a 20 km race in 2015. Suzuki finished the race in 1 hr 16 min 36 sec. If you do the math (remembering that speed is simply distance divided by time), you'll see that Suzuki walked those 20 km at an average speed of about 15.7 km per hour or 9.7 miles per hour.
To put this in perspective, one lap around a typical running track in the US is 1/4 mile, which means that the 20 km or 12.4 mile race walk is approximately 50 laps around a track. So to set the race walking world record, you need to complete each of these 50 laps in an average time of around 90 seconds. Which means that world class race walkers "walk" 6 minute miles! That's an impressive time if you're running, and it's a downright amazing time for the athletes "walking" in the Olympics!
Fun Fact 2: How Fast Do Olympic Swimmers Swim?
If you've ever been swimming, you know that water is kind of hard to move through. The physics of it is fairly simple: Water is more dense than air and therefore offers up more resistance to motion. Which might lead you to correctly conclude that the fastest swimmers must be slower than the fastest runners. But what about the fastest walkers that we just talked about? Are race walkers faster or slower than swimmers?
To see, let's figure out how fast the fastest swimmers swim. The world record time for the 50 meter freestyle sprint is just under 21 seconds. If you do the math, you'll see that covering 50 meters in 21 seconds requires moving at an average speed of around 5.3 miles per hour. That's pretty fast, but it's only about half the speed of the fastest walker. Water is indeed denser than air.
Fun Fact 3: How Fast Do Olympic Sprinters Sprint?
Running (and even walking) are quicker than swimming. But by how much? What's the maximum average speed that a human can run? To find out, let's calculate the average speed of a sprinter in the 100 meter race. In 2009, Usain Bolt set a world record by running the race in 10.49 seconds. Doing the math, this equates to an average speed of around 21.3 miles per hour or 34.3 km per hour.
That's already a lot faster than race walkers can walk, but that's not the whole story. Because a sprinter running the 100 meter race begins from rest and takes a few seconds to get up to full speed. Which means that Usain Bolt didn't top out at 21.3 miles per hour. While that was his average speed during the race, his top speed is estimated to have been around 27.6 miles per hour—nearly 3 times faster than the fastest race walker.
Fun Fact 4: How Fast Could You Drive to the Olympics?
My hometown of Los Angeles is just over 6,300 miles from this year's Summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. If I could somehow manage to swim full-out along the coasts of North and South America (taking a detour through the Panama Canal), I could swim there in a couple of months. If I were instead able to race walk non-stop over land (and possibly a bit of sea), I could complete the journey in about one month. Even Usain Bolt running full out at top speed would take about 10 days to make the trip.
So, sadly, these human-powered options aren't really good options—at least they're not going to get me there in time to catch any of the action. So, if I really want to make it to the games, what can I do? Well, if I've got a magical car that can drive at 65 miles per hour through the most extreme off-road driving conditions (and probably make a few quick jaunts over water), I could make the trip in just about 4 days. Sounds tempting … except for that whole being impossible thing.
Fun Fact 5: How Fast Could You Fly to the Olympics?
For many, many reasons, none of these modes of transportation are viable options. The speeds just aren't great enough nor are the locations conveniently linked. But, fortunately for any Los Angeles-to-Rio-bound athletes or spectators, there are faster ways to go.
Take, for example, the commercial airliner. This is probably your best bet for making the trip. How fast do they travel? Typically around 550 miles per hour. Which means a commercial airplane will get you from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro in about 12 hours. Which, I think you'll agree, is by far the most appealing option.
Wrap Up
Okay, those are all the numerical fun facts we have time for today.
For more fun with numbers and math, please check out my book, The Math Dude’s Quick and Dirty Guide to Algebra. Also, remember to become a fan of The Math Dude on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter.
Until next time, this is Jason Marshall with The Math Dude’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Make Math Easier. Thanks for reading, math fans!
Running track image from Shutterstock.
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