Metric in Sports: Summer Games Fast Facts

Diving

Diving off the 10 m diving platform is similar to diving from the roof of a three-story building. Springboard divers bound from a board that is 50 cm in width, or about the size of four standard compact discs placed side by side. The 10 m diving platform is almost two meters wide, about the width of a full-sized pickup truck.

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Water Polo

Water Polo players pass and carry a ball in a pool that is 1.8 m deep, or approximately the height of a standard upright refrigerator.

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Pentathlon

Competitors in the modern pentathlon must, among other events, run 4000 m around a track, which is longer than 43 U.S. football fields laid end to end.

Fencing

The heaviest weapon used in fencing is the epee, which weighs 756 g or about as much as two empty ceramic coffee mugs.

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Gymnastics

Gymnastics floor exercises are performed on a mat measuring 12 m by 12 m, roughly twice the size of a boxing ring. Gymnasts execute precise movements on a balance beam that is only 10 cm wide, about the width of a paperback novel. The rings in men's gymnastics are place 250 cm off the floor, which is about the height of a standard ceiling.

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• Metric in Sports
  • Winter Games
  • Track and Field
  • Bicycling