When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
Time for a little Olympic AI fun here at Techopedia.
Do you have any idea just how high the world record is for the high jump? Or how far you can travel, with a simple hop, skip, and jump? Have you ever pondered just how heavy the world record weightlifting clean and jerk is?
As the athletes compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, hoping to smash these amazing world records, we’ve put the gold medal standard in a ‘real-life- context’.
We have then left it to AI, to come up with the imagery – with varying degrees of success!
Ever fancied yourself as an Olympic athlete? Here’s what it really takes…
Weightlifting (Clean and Jerk)
- World Record 267 kg / 588 pounds
- Lasha Talakhadze (Georgia)
- 2021
In the weightlifting clean and jerk, you first lift the barbell to your chest. You complete the move by lifting it over your head and controlling the weight.
The world record weight is the equivalent of lifting an adult brown bear over your head.
AI: “an Olympic athlete lifting a brown bear above his head.”
High Jump
- World Record 2.45 meters / 8ft
- Javier Sotomayor (Cuba)
- 1993
Eight feet is the average height of a fully-grown California Sea Lion. It’s also the height of a standard ceiling. Sotomayor’s incredible record remains to this day.
AI: “Create an image of an Olympic high jumper leaping over the top of a California Sea Lion, standing on its flipper.”
Pole Vault
- World Record 6.24 meters / 20ft 5in
- Armand Duplantis (Sweden)
- 2024
Twenty feet and five inches is approximately the length of a standard shipping container, as well as the height of a utility pole or a two-storey building.
You can wager on any of these records being broken at Paris 2024 at the best Olympics betting sites – featuring markets on all the events.
AI: “Create the image of a shipping container standing on its end, with a man pole vaulting over the top of it.”
Long Jump
- World Record 8.95 meters / 29ft 4in
- Mike Powell (USA)
- 1991
The world record long jump is the equivalent length of a school bus or a classic London double-decker; cleared, from one end to the other, in a single jump.
AI: “A long jumper leaping the length of a London red double-decker bus.”
Triple Jump
- World Record 18.29 meters / 60ft
- Jonathan Edwards (Great Britain)
- 1995
The world record hop, skip, and jump would take you all the way from the pitche’rs mound to the home plate. It’s also the length of a fully grown adult female humpback whale
AI: “A triple jumper leaping the length of a humpback whale, to show how long it is.”
Shot Put
- World Record 23.56 meters / 77ft 3in
- Ryan Crouser (USA)
- 2023
An Olympic shot put weighs the same as a ten-pin bowling ball, with a can of soup stuck to it. Now imagine you have to throw that just over 77 feet. That’s roughly the length of a tennis court.
AI: “An Olympic shot putter in a tennis court, throwing a ten-pin bowling ball from one end of the tennis court to the other.”
Discus
- World Record 74.35 meters / 244ft
- Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania)
- 2024
An Olympic discus weighs in at about 4.4 pounds, the equivalent of a large pineapple. Now, you have to hurl it the length of an Airbus A380.
It’s an odd image, an athlete chucking a discus the length of a plane. However, nothing comes close to some of the weirdest Olympic sports that were actually included in previous Games.
AI: “A realistic image of an Olympic athlete throwing a discus the length of an Airbus A380.”
Hammer Throw
- World Record 86.74 meters / 284ft 7in
- Yuriy Sedykh (Soviet Union/Russia)
- 1986
The men’s Olympic hammer weighs 16 pounds, the equivalent of a large watermelon, a gallon of paint, or a standard sewing machine.
Now, swing it and hurl it the length of approximately 16 to 19 cars parked bumper to bumper.
Sedykh still holds the record for the hammer throw, representing the Soviet Union in 1986.
The Soviet Union is still near the top of the leaderboard when it comes to the countries with the most Olympic Gold medals, despite not existing since 1991 and having only competed in nine Games.
AI: “a side view image of a line of 17 cars, parked bumper to bumper. An athlete is throwing a gallon-sized tin of paint along its entire length.”
Javelin
- World Record 98.48 meters / 323 ft
- Jan Železný (Czechia)
- 1996
The Olympic javelin weighs 800g and must be between 2.6 and 27 meters in length. Remarkably, the world record throw is the length of a football field.
AI: “An overhead view of an Olympic javelin thrower, hurling his javelin the entire length of an American football field.”
