r/whowouldwin • u/retired-tweeter • 4d ago

Battle All 47 US Presidents are running against each other in a 40 yard dash. Who wins?

Every U.S. President is magically cloned into their peak physical form, dropped onto a football field, and lined up for a 40-yard dash. Who ya got?

Favorites:

JFK: 2 sport college athlete, plus military training. Swam 3.5 miles towing an injured soldier with a bad back.

Gerald Ford: Another strong military background who was a two-way football player at Michigan.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Extensive military career, who played halfback at west point until his injury. Guessing he was a little fast even in segregated times

Barack Obama: Gonna get a lot of votes here probably as one of the only presidents we've seen in action playing an athletic sport, but no athletic background, so you know, can't give him too much credit

Donald Trump: In doing my 20 minutes worth of research, I came across this quote from a Ted Levine in 2015 (In an article about Trump running in 2016 so...take that as you will) "He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete," Levine said. "He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher. I think he threw 80 miles an hour.... He was physically and mentally gifted." So there's that (Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-high-school-classmates-what-he-was-like-2015-10)

All in All, I'd lean Gerald Ford. JFK had injury issues so who knows what his "prime" would have been athletically. Maybe at absolute peak and health, JFK could win, but I'm going with the 2-way football player from Michigan.

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u/TheShadowKick 4d ago

Tall people actually don't seem to have an advantage in distance running. A long stride is only one factor in how fast you can run. Tall people also have more weight to move and worse heat management.

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u/periodmoustache 4d ago

Is a 40yd dash 'distance running'?

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u/TheShadowKick 4d ago

I was responding to the above poster saying "maybe not in the 40, but if it was longer..."

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u/IWouldLikeAName 4d ago

The typical height for sprints is like 6 feet no?

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u/StunningRing5465 4d ago

Think he was talking about a 100m or thereabouts 

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u/aimless_meteor 2d ago

Farther than most people on Reddit have ran in their lives

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u/superspacetrucker 4d ago

Usain Bolt is unusually tall for a sprinter, he seems to be the exception to the rule.

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u/Intelligent_Fig_4852 4d ago

Usain Bolt is a freak of nature

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u/leasthoodinthehood 4d ago

And Bolt's 40 was not great. It was average for an Olympic sprinter. It was his top end that that was leagues ahead.

Su Bingtian, who is only 5'8", holds the world record for the 40 meters, but drops off after that with his short strides.

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u/superspacetrucker 3d ago

I remember Donovan Bailey was similar. He was tall, slower to average start, but picked up more speed the second half of his races.

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u/WebAccount5000 4d ago

Great when theyre kids though

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u/Ill_Ad3517 4d ago

Long enough distance and he just put walks the competition

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u/versusChou ​ 4d ago

For long distance you actually want to be on the average to shorter side. Ideal build is long legs, short torso, thin, shortish, and Kenyan.

For men:
Eliud Kipchoge is 5'8
Kelvin Kiptum was 5'11
Bashir Abdi is 5'9
Evans Chebet is 5'6
Kenenisa Beyecha is 5'5

Kelvin wasn't even 6'0 and he was kinda unusually tall. It's the weight to power ratio. As you get taller you gain more mass for your legs to have to carry. You basically already want your torso to be tiny with small arms. Getting taller just adds a lot of bone and muscle mass to carry.

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u/XAfricaSaltX 3d ago

Tall people have an advantage if it’s like 400 meters or so

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u/According-District59 1d ago

The formula is tall people legs, short people upper body