think I’d have to go for the 10km swim. As well as being physically gruelling, there is also the fact you are getting bashed about (pretty claustophobic) and don’t know how far ahead / behind you are, and stress of trying to keep straight

any others?

rowing? – most of them looked ready to die when they finished

triathlon? – as above, but they’ve got to hold on to the suffering for a bit longer.

trying to stay awake watching that horse dancing event 😉

The wind surfing looking pretty punishing.

Modern Pentathlon needs to be one. So many different muscle groups used.

Impossible to say. Some are harder than others (eg shooting I would guess isn’t physically painful (unless you get shot 🙂 ) but how do you compare?

As an ex-rower I can vouch that after a hard Olympic distance race, it’s the worst sports-induced pain I’ve experienced because it’s right between a sprint and endurance plus it’s stregth based too so everything is just completely maxed out. But, it’s a different suffering say to doing a really hard road ride which isn’t so intensely painful but for want of a better word, hurts right down to your bones as the fatigue from the longer event sinks in.

Speed walking. Think of all the abuse you have to put up with.
Did they even show it on the telly?

The walks really don’t look very pleasant and I dread to think of the hip problems the competitors must suffer in later life.

Marathon would be in there as well.

Mountainbike probably had the most injuries. Was also the only event I saw where the leaders could hardly speak at the end of the race.

Gymnastics, the rings. Looks pretty damn tough!

Depends how we define toughest. But rowing and cycling being non-weight bearing events allow you to push yourself harder than weight bearing events like running.

Having run, (and walked), to a highish level the difference in feeling dead at the end of the event is very different to that of cycling, and I can imagine rowing.

Was also the only event I saw where the leaders could hardly speak at the end of the race.

You missed the rowing then 🙂

But rowing and cycling being non-weight bearing events allow you to push yourself harder than weight bearing events like running.

Interesting – hadn’t really considered it that way. Might have to have a look into that theory.

Mountain bikers only had to do 1 event in 2 weeks – how many games did the basketball players play, bouts did the boxers box, etc..?
Impossible to pick one sport.

BMX!

Explosive sprint starts, but not a short distance, technically it’s enormously demanding, requires oodles of bravery to jump so high and so far – esp surrounded by 7 other nutters, riders had to go through multiple time trials and quarters and semis to get to the final.

Didn’t hear of any other sport’s commentating containing anything like the gem that was “He mashed up his spleen again, so they just took it out this time…” 😯

Decathlon. It breaks people, defending that title must be one of the toughest achievements as so many competitors don’t even make it to two games.
For that pain between sprint and endurance, with the impact of running too, – the 400m. Add hurdles to it for extra toughness.
And (super) heavyweight boxing. What else has an 18 stone opponent intent on giving you concussion.
Toughest olympians – 3.Daley Thompson, 2.Ed Moses 1. Teófilo Stevenson.

rings look ridiculously hard, all strength and short sessions tho. Rowings hard work but what’s the longest event they do?

triathlon I reckon
<edit> or possibly decathlon 🙂

2k for rowing (at least as far as the Olympics go) – about 5:30 to 7 mins depending on the boat type and conditions.

As I said, extremely painful but not suffering of the same kind as some other sports. It’s impossible to say which is tougher though as to some extent it’ll depend on who’s doing it – some people can tolerate pain better while others can deal with the longer suffering better.

“Its doesn’t get any easier, you just go faster”

Surely this priciple applies to all effort based sports. So if you finish the marathon less tired than a triathelte or rower finished their event then you didn’t go fast enough.

I think this can be measured by the proportion of people who collapse in a heap at the finish line.

In XC skiing, everyone does. Gasping bodies create a significant trip hazard in fact.

So if you finish the marathon less tired than a triathelte or rower finished their event then you didn’t go fast enough

I’d say the number of muscle groups you are using is a factor. So cyclists who don’t use many aren’t under the same kind of load as rowers or skiiers, say. When I cycle (as a non-olympian of course!) the thing that stops me is the pain in my legs, when I run it’s the overall feeling of imminent death. So I can finish a long MTB race with aching legs but feeling generally ok if I’ve nourished myself properly.

That’s why there are lots of week long or more bike races, but there aren’t many week long running races, and those that do exist are for nutters rather than normal top athletes.

Are we talking about doing the actual event, or doing the training required beforehand? Because if it’s the latter, then it has to be swimming, according to Rebecca Adlington.

I think we’re talking about the actual event, although defining toughness is hard.

Most people, (me), seem to consider heart rate/exertion as toughness, but clearly contact sports and multi events are a different level of toughness.

That being said I bet water polo’s not easy!

What about the state of the bronze winning Brownlee brother in the triathlon, he looked pretty much buggered!

There’s also different kinds of toughness. For instance, many sports people wouldn’t be able to take the kind of battering that rugby players do. Of course it’s not an Olympic sport but it will be in Rio. Actually – Rugby 7s – anyone played that? I was as knackered as I’ve ever been.

That being said I bet water polo’s not easy!

Good point. Water polo is a win, win. Incredibly hard CV workout, and it’s also a contact sport.

Plus 1 for BMX.

You can train your socks off for years in advance, then some schmuck can put you out of the race in the blink of an eye. All that preparation gone.

Plus you have the explosive sprint speed, skill and guts required.

Paralympic rugby?

Has to be triathlon.

Alistair Brownlee’s time of 29 minutes 7 seconds in the 10,000m of the triathlon was just 97 seconds slower than Mo Farah’s gold-winning time in the 10,000m Olympic final.

Brownlee swam the 1,500m in open water in 17.04. China’s Sun Yang won the 1,500m gold in the pool with a world record time of 14.31.

Brownlee completed the 43km cycle in 59.03. Great Britain’s Bradley Wiggins won gold in the 44km time trial in 50.39.

All of those are impressive individual times by any standard, but back to back they are incredible.

That’s why there are lots of week long or more bike races, but there aren’t many week long running races, and those that do exist are for nutters rather than normal top athletes

Your logic is wonky!

There are 3 week long top level bike races becuase they are exciting to watch; the varying terain, ability to draft and tactics create an exciting spectacle. But to compete in these events the athletes need to moderate their effort over the 3 weeks. They wouldn’t be able to race Paris Roubaix every day for 3 weeks.

But a 3 week long running race is dull to watch. So there aren’t many. But the ones that do exist are completed by people moderating their effort over the 3 weeks just like a bike race.

But actually comparing “toughness” of a sport is fairly futile. We haven’t even defined toughness for a start. I was just quoting a nice quote from Greg Lemond!

Paralympic rugby’s brutal

Used to go to School and Air Cadets years a go with Aaron Phipps who’s on the team, really hope they do well

That’s why there are lots of week long or more bike races, but there aren’t many week long running races, and those that do exist are for nutters rather than normal top athletes.

Molgrips, how very dare you! I and a few of mates resemble those remarks 😉

Edit- Lizzy Hawker though amazing and some other pro ultra endurance runners, they’re proper mental

All of those are impressive individual times by any standard, but back to back they are incredible.

The running one is, but the others aren’t really all that much to write home about. The men’s 10km swim was completed in under 1:50, hence sub 11 minutes per km, as opposed to 11:20 for Brownlee in the tri – that’s over a longer event than the whole of the tri and not wearing wetsuits. Meanwhile his speed on the bike would have put him in last place on the TT – in an event where drafting was allowed (that speed isn’t even all that special for a 3/4 road race).

The fact those speeds are fast for you and I is irrelevant.

In any case, I don’t see why going that fast makes the triathlon any tougher – on that principle the 800m, or maybe even the 4x100m would be contenders for the toughest event, having smashed world records.

It’s a tough choice but the sychronised swimming and gymnastics both had me exhausted

Synchronised darts,they really suffer for their sport.

Pretty sure I remember the commentators and pundits describing rowing as the toughest sport. Sir Steve may have been a little biased.

Watching Sir Chris fall off his bike onto a mat to suffer through the lactic pain didn’t make me want to go out and ride!

Molgrips, how very dare you!

Haha.. the only comparable thing I know of is the Marathon des Sables. I don’t think we see the usual marathon big names there, I suppose for the same reason we don’t see Wiggins & co doing Iditabike. There’s hard events that people aim to do fast, and there’s bonkers events where people aim to survive and win by attrition. I don’t think you can do many of those a year.

Forgot about the 4x400m runner Manteo Mitchell.
Probably the toughest Olympian this time.

Could it be quantified in calories burnt?

I’d go for rowing, marathon, triathlon, open water swim and possibly the TT for the toughest events given how fecked the athletes looked at the end.