The phrase “roughly” in that sentence did the form of heavy lifting that received Dean Lukin a gold medal in Los Angeles.
For the uninitiated, the warm-up observe for the London Olympics was significantly nearer to the primary stadium than Raymond Park is to the Gabba. About half the gap, because it occurs.
London’s warm-up observe in 2011, as preparations for the 2012 Video games have been in full swing. Credit score: Olympic Supply Authority
A spokeswoman for Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the positioning of the 2012 Olympics, confirmed the observe was about 250 metres from the primary stadium on the time of the Video games (it’s since been moved nearer). That’s half the gap from Raymond Park to the Gabba.
“The F14 bridge over the Greenway supplied a direct and quick route again to the stadium,” she stated.
“The buggies enabled the athletes to maneuver again shortly previous to their occasion with out cooling down an excessive amount of.”
So I posed the query to Deputy Premier Steven Miles’ workplace – simply how did the PVR authors give you that “roughly the identical distance” remark?
The response got here from a State Growth Division spokeswoman.
“Heat-up services for observe and discipline are required to be inside shut proximity of the stadium’s athlete services and occasion observe. Raymond Park is roughly 500 metres from the Gabba,” she stated, echoing the road from the PVR.
“The preliminary work undertaken by a global architectural agency with stadium and Olympic expertise suggested the gap from the London athlete services to the warm-up venue was 315 metres through a connection.”
5 hundred metres because the crow flies in comparison with a winding 315-metre route. Apples and oranges come to thoughts.
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However even taking the 315-metre declare on face worth, it raises some questions concerning the validity of the PVR.
By the federal government’s personal admission, the Raymond Park warm-up observe might be about 185 metres additional away from the Gabba than the 2012 warm-up observe was from the London Stadium. That’s a shade below 60 per cent additional than athletes needed to journey in 2012.
Arithmetic is probably not my strongest go well with, however 500 metres is nearer to twice the size of 315 metres than “the identical” size.
Now, within the scheme of issues, it’s not an enormous distance. If Usain Bolt may have maintained his world-record tempo over that further 185 metres, it could have taken him simply 17.72 seconds to traverse (maybe maths is my robust go well with in spite of everything).
Then again, followers strolling from the Pineapple Resort to the Gabba can attest to it taking fairly a bit longer than that, notably if their pre-match preparations made it extra a stumble than a dash.
Raymond Park (foreground) is about 500 metres from the Gabba stadium.Credit score: Google Earth
Both means, the gap shouldn’t be that nice. An Athletics Australia spokeswoman advised me a number of months again that it was “not unusual” to have equally distant warm-up tracks, with athletes transported to venues on buggies.
“If there are logistics in place like that, then it’s not an issue,” she stated.
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However that line within the PVR speaks to a deeper drawback – that the report was not ready to find out whether or not the Gabba rebuild is a good suggestion, however relatively why it’s a good suggestion.
Reasonably than a factual evaluation, we have been handed some truth-bending spin.
Sir Humphrey can be proud.
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