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Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

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Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#171

Post by TomVDB »

michaelt wrote: post #158
TomVDB wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She won deservedly. And it was very entertaining. But there was luck involved, and in 99% of the cases, it’d be terrible advice and strategy to count on a major communications breakdown within the team of top favorites and (apparently) within the organization of the race themselves? “Strategy” is one of those words that’s used way too much in hindsight.

In any other sport, being ahead of the favourite by a wide margin for much of a race, then crossing the finishing line so far ahead that the second-place athlete isn't even in view, would be called a "resounding victory" rather than "lucky"

Have you considered the option that “resounding victory” and “being lucky” aren’t mutually incompatible concepts?

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#172

Post by rocqua »

datavirtue wrote: post #164
rocqua wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notably, 15% of men riding in the tour de France earn less than 45000 a year. That isn't a low salary, but for a proffesional athlete at the peak event, it isn't a lot either.

$45k is the very definition of "low salary."

Its euros. And its waaaay above minimum wage. In Europe, its above the "modal wage" aswell. I think in west Europe its about the average wage.

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#173

Post by mjul »

srean wrote: post #12

It might be interesting to recall that Alan Turing was an Olympics team contender for 1948~1949

Harald Bohr won a silver medal at the 1908 Olympics with the Danish football team. He was also a notable mathematician, an editor for Acta Mathematica and he discovered the fascinating Fastperiodische Funktionen.

Sports and academics were not unusual in his family: his brother Niels (not an Olympian, but a known physicist) had a son Ernest who was an Olympian in 1948 (hockey).

Unlike his father and brother Aage, Ernest did not win a Nobel (he was a lawyer).

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#174

Post by ubermonkey »

antattack wrote: post #41
pythko wrote: post #18

Some additional context for those who don't follow professional cycling: the Dutch women's team was incredibly strong coming into this road race. All 4 riders on their team are stars in their own right, and the only reason there wasn't a clear favorite for the race overall is that people weren't sure which Dutch rider would win. So you have a complicated group dynamic, where the majority of the peloton has no interes…

Sounds similar to Emma Coburn's win in steeplechase in 2014[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_riHHyAIvk

Wow, that's really something to see. Was there ever any discussion of what the rest of the pack was thinking? Did they think Coburn was going to be unable to keep the pace and they'd real her in, or what?

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#176

Post by eitally »

j7ake wrote: post #113

What an amazing effort from Kiesenhofer. I imagine being alone in the front for that long would be many times more effort than staying in the peloton. Heroic effort. I am curious how this upset compare with other upsets in previous Olympics? Has there been bigger upsets than this one? If this were a tennis event, would this be like someone who was ranked top 50 or top 100 in the world beating Novak Djokovic to win go…

Think of it more like this: "cyclist who is very good at riding all-out on her own has chance to ride all-out on her own; peloton that has potential advantage of strength in numbers doesn't use advantage; to some surprise, lone rider wins."

This doesn't happen in stage races because of radios and professional teamwork, but I'm this race the technology and incentives aligned to open the door for a breakaway win.

The fun part is that the cyclist who won isn't even optimized to compete in the same way as the others. She's literally a time trial specialist who rejected a pro team offer because she didn't want to compete on anything but personal cycling performance, and then she beat those teams.

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#177

Post by hi41 »

sanguy wrote: post #137

Fantastic ride and if you follower her Twitter she's been doing a lot of very detailed exploration of her endurance limits in preparation. When the lead group fell to 3 they had an 11 minute lead. She broke free and went solo with 40km to go. When she finished that lead had eroded to 2 minutes as the front group she dropped had been caught. So in those 40km she lost 9 minutes of lead she had built with the help of th…

Could you please elaborate more on strategy you referred to. tia.

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#178

Post by srean »

mjul wrote: post #173
srean wrote: post #12

It might be interesting to recall that Alan Turing was an Olympics team contender for 1948~1949

Harald Bohr won a silver medal at the 1908 Olympics with the Danish football team. He was also a notable mathematician, an editor for Acta Mathematica and he discovered the fascinating Fastperiodische Funktionen. Sports and academics were not unusual in his family: his brother Niels (not an Olympian, but a known physicist) had a son Ernest who was an Olympian in 1948 (hockey). Unlike his father and brother Aage, Erne…

Thanks for adding this anecdote. Is it the same mathematician who worked on almost periodic functions ? I have run into those in my line of work. On second thoughts, I guess that's what Fastperiodische Funktionen means.

On a different note this would be the third example where the person concerned is Danish.

Was entertained by how you wrote about all those relations and associations it felt like those logic puzzles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Puzzle

Re: Anna Kiesenhofer: Mathematician, amateur cyclist, Olympic champion

#179

Post by Balazs64 »

sanguy wrote: post #137

Fantastic ride and if you follower her Twitter she's been doing a lot of very detailed exploration of her endurance limits in preparation. When the lead group fell to 3 they had an 11 minute lead. She broke free and went solo with 40km to go. When she finished that lead had eroded to 2 minutes as the front group she dropped had been caught. So in those 40km she lost 9 minutes of lead she had built with the help of th…

Totally agree! Look at her bike, tires, wheels, the ceramic speed jockey wheels, her jersey, her helmet, her training. It was all set up for that last 40km. She executed what she planned perfectly, everybody else made a mistake. That played in her favor, true, but the strategy was there, using her strengths which suited the course with this tactics. Leaving the break with 40km to go, set up the rest of the break as a bait. She assumed, that the lack of radios may cause a miscommunication with rather high probability, buying her some time. She may not imagined 11 minutes, but she is good at downhill and TT, so it could work, and it did. Brains, guts and lots and lots of power, well done Anna!
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