Hurdle Fail Videos
The internet has given us access to hurdling-related videos to the point where it’s quite possible to coach yourself off of YouTube. You can watch race footage of past greats going back as far as Harrison Dillard in 1948, and all the way up to modern stars who just competed yesterday. You can find videos on hurdling mechanics, videos that demonstrate drills, slow-motion videos of elite hurdlers’ starts, and full-length documentaries on the likes of Edwin Moses, John Akii-Bua, Allen Johnson, and Guy Drut. Thanks to YouTube, you never have to be in the dark when it comes to staying informed and gathering new knowledge.
Meanwhile, another kind of hurdle video has become popular on YouTube: the “hurdle fail” video. These videos, as I’m sure you already know, feature mainly beginner-level hurdlers crashing and burning, stumbling and falling, zigzagging across lanes, jumping over the hurdles of other hurdlers, etc. My attitude toward hurdle fail videos is mixed. I find them both hilarious and embarrassing at the same time. Hilarious because I can relate, embarrassing because I know that those who can’t relate are laughing too. It’s the difference between laughing with versus being laughed at.
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One of the most viewed hurdle fail videos is the one below, which features high school girls, two of whom seem to have no clue what they are doing.
The girl in the red actually uses a block start, only to take ten steps to the first hurdle. What’s the point? Then she proceeds to knock over hurdles, fall over hurdles, and switch lanes prior to making it across the finish line. The girl in the gray falls several times, and has such a pained expression on her face that it’s hard not to feel sorry for her. She goes around one hurdle and keeps racing, while her coach (I guess it’s her coach) on the infield encourages her to finish. For both girls, it’s a calamitous race from start to finish.
Another wildly famous hurdle fail video features a group of Chinese hurdlers, all of whom have terrible form.
The camera focuses on the hurdler in the red who literally runs through the hurdles, busting through the crossbars like they’re made of cardboard. At the end of the race he crosses into the next lane over and basically picks up his opponent’s hurdle and moves it out of the way, forcing his opponent to go around him into his original lane. Meanwhile, the hurdler in blue on the far left is seven-stepping some hurdles, five-stepping others, jumping to the moon every time, landing on both feet most of the time, landing on the hurdle other times, and easily finishing last, although he won’t have to worry about being disqualified.
If you search for “hurdle fail” on YouTube you’ll find these and many other videos, including some compilations of the “best” hurdle fails. In the post-Jackass era, fail videos of all sorts have become common, and it looks like they’re here to stay. In the case of the hurdles, fail videos have brought attention to the hurdling events that would otherwise be hard to come by. But at what cost, I must ask.
Hurdling as Spectacle
My biggest issue with hurdle fail videos is that they turn this beautiful art form into a joke. The emphasis is on the entertainment value, not on athleticism. Many viewers who watch hurdle fail videos are not hurdlers, but are members of the general population who similarly enjoy watching videos of cats falling out of trees, skateboarders wiping out, and daredevils – high on drugs and/or alcohol – unsuccessfully attempting ridiculous stunts. Do people who don’t hurdle or who have never tried to hurdle have the right to laugh at hurdlers who fail?
I would say no, because they have no idea how difficult it is to clear even one hurdle efficiently, much less run a whole race over them. But I get it. It is entertaining, it is funny from the perspective of someone on the outside looking in. As someone on the inside, I laugh because hurdle fail videos remind me of times when I have fallen, or when one of my hurdlers may have fallen. In these videos, the athletes represent the most extreme form of what all hurdlers would like to do at times – just plow through the barriers, just run around them. And just as with reality television, it always makes you feel better about yourself when you see someone else who is much worse off than you.
What Are the Coaches Thinking?
I know with me, I’m very particular about not allowing any of my hurdlers to race until I’m certain they’re good and ready to. I remember my own first race over a full flight, and how I was filled with trepidation, even though I’d been practicing for a month. Also, like any self-respecting coach, I understand that the performance of my athletes is a reflection of myself. If they fail on the track, then I in some way have failed them. I didn’t prepare them properly.
With one girl I coached a few years ago, I started coaching her in November, but kept her out of 100m hurdle races until April, with only a month left in the season. I saw no point in having her race in the hurdles indoors, and outdoors she could run the 300 hurdles and sprints and relays while refining her technique to the point where she was ready to compete against the best girls in the state. She ended up winning states and qualifying for nationals. If I had thrown her out there too soon, the losing would’ve shaken her confidence, and she might have given up on the 100 hurdles altogether. So to put it simply, rule #1 is don’t put your hurdlers in a race until they’re ready to race.
In these hurdle fail videos, there’s no indication whatsoever that the coaches considered the preparedness and the psyche of their athletes before sending them out there to compete. If you got a girl taking ten steps to the first hurdle out of the blocks, you know she’s not ready. If you have a guy who thinks it’s okay to run through the hurdles instead of clearing them, he’s obviously not ready. Don’t put him out there. Don’t let him embarrass himself. Don’t let him embarrass you. Really, it’s just irresponsible. And yes, it’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. In the videos I’ve seen, no one has been seriously injured, but it could definitely happen, and probably has.
So if one of my hurdlers or coaching friends sends me a hurdle fail video, I’ll watch it and we’ll share a good laugh. But if someone with no hurdle background sends me a link or walks up to me wanting to show it to me on a cell phone, I’ll politely (or not so politely) decline to watch. We’re not cool like that, bruh.
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