American Ninja Warrior
Jul. 25th, 2012 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeFor the past five or six weeks, American Ninja Warrior has been a near-constant discussion topic around our house. Based on a Japanese athletic competition, this show started with about a thousand or so competitors in six regions, with two qualifying rounds, each involving feats of strength (mostly upper body) and balance. Rock climbers and parkour instructors seem to do best at it. The qualifiers led the top 100 athletes (well, really, 90 plus 10 wildcards chosen for their interesting stories and to keep a few women competing) to the huge final event in Las Vegas, where they recreated the current version of the four-stage Japanese course, “Mount Midoriyama.” The 100 athletes were quickly winnowed down to the 24 who could complete stage one, and tonight we saw what those 24 could do.
And of those 24, one completed stage two. He then did remarkably well at stage three, getting further in its eight obstacles than any American had done before, but alas, he could not finish, and we didn’t get to see him attempt the final event, a rapid climb up a huge wall.
And this point shows the difference between the American and Japanese models of competition, at least for this type of event, because as Americans we expect the one who does the best to be the victor and get the prize. But no – only the person to complete the course (in the fastest time, should two do so) gets to be the winner. So, many hundreds tried, and nobody won, but we sure saw some impressive performances.
And of those 24, one completed stage two. He then did remarkably well at stage three, getting further in its eight obstacles than any American had done before, but alas, he could not finish, and we didn’t get to see him attempt the final event, a rapid climb up a huge wall.
And this point shows the difference between the American and Japanese models of competition, at least for this type of event, because as Americans we expect the one who does the best to be the victor and get the prize. But no – only the person to complete the course (in the fastest time, should two do so) gets to be the winner. So, many hundreds tried, and nobody won, but we sure saw some impressive performances.