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Olympic Measures
Age 11 to 14
Challenge Level 
Year 3 at How Wood Primary approached this problem in an interesting way:
We tried to work out the problem. We knew we needed to make sensible estimates. To work out Usain Bolt's record, for example, we ran the distance ourselves and found out what times we scored. We thought that he'd be able to do it a little bit faster than us, so that helped make our guesses. Two groups guessed really well with 10 seconds. So we were using what we already know to help us solve a problem.
Fantastic! This is a great way to estimate the kinds of numbers you're looking for and use the data you have sensibly.
The final table of answers, which loads of people got right, is given below. Thanks to everyone for the submissions!
We tried to work out the problem. We knew we needed to make sensible estimates. To work out Usain Bolt's record, for example, we ran the distance ourselves and found out what times we scored. We thought that he'd be able to do it a little bit faster than us, so that helped make our guesses. Two groups guessed really well with 10 seconds. So we were using what we already know to help us solve a problem.
Fantastic! This is a great way to estimate the kinds of numbers you're looking for and use the data you have sensibly.
The final table of answers, which loads of people got right, is given below. Thanks to everyone for the submissions!
| Usain Bolt's 100 metres World Record |
9.58 | seconds |
| Women's Long Jump World Record |
7.52 | metres |
| Men's High Jump World Record | 2.45 | metres |
| Basketball hoop diameter | 18 | inches |
| Basketball hoop height | 10 | feet |
| Mass of Women's Discus | 1 | kg |
| Women's Discus World Record | 76.8 | metres |
| Diameter of Archery target | 122 | cm |
| Archers' distance from the target | 70 | metres |
|
Average speed of World Record |
8.77 | mph |
| Men's Shot put World Record | 23.12 | metres |
| Height of Diving platform | 10 | metres |
| Men's 10km Swimming 2012 Olympics winner's time |
01:49:55 | hr:min:sec |
| Men's 50m Freestyle Swimming 2012 Olympics winner's time |
21.34 | seconds |
| Paula Radcliffe's Women's Marathon World Record |
02:15:25 | hr:min:sec |
| Triathlon Swim (distance) | 1500 | metres |
| Triathlon Bicycle ride (distance) | 40 | km |
| Triathlon Run (distance) | 10 | km |
| Men's Triathlon 2012 Olympics winner's time |
01:46:25 | hr:min:sec |
| Men's Pole Vault World Record | 6.16 | metres |
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