The hurdle specialists

You might think that by "hurdle specialists", I mean these people: the ones who jump over the hurdles.

No. I do not.
I mean these ones:
the hurdle judges and the set up guys.

The judges were very serious and reminded me of Men In Black.

The set up guys were a little less serious. As seen in the video.



But there was something distinctly India about it in the latecomer hurdle collectors, the wobbling line formation and the not-so-perfect queuing.
A very fair effort, though. "A" for at least trying.

Steeplechasing

What is the steeplechase?
It's running around the track (3000m worth of running around) and jumping over these hurdle-like things.
Wikipedia gives a much more comprehensive explanation than I do, but I will quote the interesting name-history here:

"The event originated in the British Isles. Runners raced from one town's steeple to the next. The steeples were used as markers due to their visibility over long distances. Along the way runners inevitably had to jump streams and low stone walls separating estates."

In the modern steeplechase, one of the obstacles is jumping into a pool of water, like this one.
That's no small feat. Just look how deep the water hole is when there's no water in it:

The Kenyan women were super good at it. They owned the steeple chase.
1-2-3.
Gold-silver-bronze.

The determination of this Indian athlete deserved respect.
Early on she fell behind the others, but she kept on and didn't tire in her graceful leaps over the hurdles.

She wasn't the only one who had difficulty. Apparently a Papau New Guinea steeplechaser was so tired he had to use the potted plants to help him climb over the hurdle.

Men's flying--I mean, long jump

The men's long jumpers are pretty amazing. Those guy's fly!
They must be about six feet in the air before they come down at a distance around 9 feet.
Whoa!

The guy from Australia who could fly the furthest won, and he and the silver medalist took a victory lap around the track.
The press loved it.
Australia and England smiled.
They posed.
And then they walked off like super heroes--well, yeah, they can fly, right?