QUESTION: Has a professional racewalker ever been penalised for running?
Racewalking has strict rules requiring athletes to maintain contact with the ground at all times and to keep their supporting leg straight from the moment of contact until it passes under the body. In other words, you have to walk without enabling a referee to deduce that you might actually be jogging or running.
In professional races, this is strictly enforced. Race officials, usually positioned around the course, monitor the walkers for any infractions. If a walker receives three red cards from different judges for lifting or bending the knee, they are disqualified from the race.
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Simon J. King, Bedford
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Mark Saunders, Sandown, Isle of Wight
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Dave Warner, Leicester
Disqualifications are not uncommon in professional racewalking, even in high-stakes competitions such as the Olympics and World Championships, where the pressure to maintain speed can lead to form breakdowns.
The most famous, and heartbreaking, was that of n racewalker Jane Saville. Following the disqualification of her lead rival Elisabetta Perrone of Italy in the 20km event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Saville seemed assured of a glorious victory in front of a rapturous home crowd — not least because she was a Sydneyite.
As Saville was heading, uncontested, into the stadium’s tunnel for the final stretch, she suffered a loss of form and, to her horror, received a third red card and was disqualified. She was inconsolable. She subsequently won bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Almost as brutal was Chinese athlete Lu Xiuzhi’s disqualification 30 yards from the finish line in the women’s 20km race walk at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London.
Lu did not notice the card and believed she had won but the race was awarded to her compatriot Yang Jiayu, who happened to win gold at the Paris Olympics.
Emma Simpson, Twickenham, Middx
QUESTION: Where is the most isolated human settlement?
The world’s most isolated human settlement is Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on Tristan da Cunha, an active volcanic island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. This settlement is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Tristan da Cunha is situated about 1,300 miles from the nearest inhabited land, Saint Helena, and more than 1,750 miles from the nearest mainland, South Africa. The settlement has a small population of around 250 people. The island has no airport and the only way to reach it is by a week-long boat journey from Cape Town, South Africa. There are fewer than ten scheduled return boat trips a year. For recreation, there is a single inn on the island — the Albatross Bar, which is inside Prince Philip Hall.
Colin Inch, Brighton
QUESTION: Were some of the first ME109s that we fought in the Battle of Britain powered by Rolls-Royce engines?
No, all the Messerschmitt Bf109Es that the RAF fought in the Battle of Britain had German-made Daimler-Benz 601 engines. The planes were designated Bf109 because they were created at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, though designed by a team led by Wilhelm Messerschmitt.
However, in the mid-1930s, when the airframe of the prototype aircraft was largely complete, the intended German engine was not ready, so to get the aircraft flying, four Rolls-Royce Kestrel V engines were acquired. Further prototypes were fitted with German Jumo 210 Daimler-Benz DB601 engines.
The aircraft went into production as the Bf109A and was fitted with the Jumo 210 engine. This continued through all the versions B, C and D.
To maximise performance, the Bf109 was designed as a lightweight fighter fitted with the largest engine that could be squeezed into the airframe. This resulted in the undercarriage being rather fragile. For ease of maintenance, the undercarriage was attached to the fuselage and retracted outwards into the wings so, with the wings removed, the fuselage could be moved on the ground or towed behind a vehicle.
Towards the end of the war, the Focke-Wulf Fw190, designed by Kurt Tank, became available. This was a much more robust aircraft.
In 1938, Willy Messerschmitt became chairman of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke and so the company was named after him. Subsequent aircraft were designated Me instead of Bf, which has caused confusion ever since.
Denis Sharp, Littlehampton, West Sussex