this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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3
How much weight are the 8-10 humans at tier 2.5 carrying? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by LillyPip@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

It looks like they’re actually tier 1 (they seem to be standing on a white platform), but what, if any, weight is each layer above them? I can see narrow platforms, but are they all taking most of the weight?

I’m not sure whether this was meant as an athletic or purely aesthetic display – since they’re billed as ‘acrobats’, I assumed skill was involved, so what would be the best and worst case scenario those 8-10 in the narrowest tier would be supporting?

e: was there any kind of structural support in this? I’m not finding much about it.

Here’s a Snopes article about this event at the 1980s Olympics in Moscow.

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[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Idk but that looks like it would be an awkward time to get an erection.

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

None beyond their own bodyweight.

The photograph shows an impressive feat in which dozens of acrobats stood on top of each other (relying on mounted platforms) to create a human tower in the likeness of the torch.

Emphasis mine. Most of the weight is born by platforms that the humans are obscuring the view of. Look at the postures of each tier; none are braced for any significant weight.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can see the structure pretty clearly toward the top. E.g. the guys holding onto the metal bar.

[–] Draces@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Also this is pretty clearly a metal pole when you zoom in

[–] oce@jlai.lu 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It looks like a rotor made of human flesh.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'll be in my bunk.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

As said by many, there's a hidden structure that supports everyone here. So every athlete is only supporting themselves.

If you want to see people supporting each other in a tower structure search for Catalonian Castells.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, if you zoom in, you can see metal posts between the legs of the athletes at that level. I can't discern any other structure at other levels, but at least the guys on the outwards-facing level can't be bearing much weight on their rear-stretched arms, even if they're doing it entirely through tension. The women at the bottom are mostly hiding the platform level 2.5 is at.

It's a nice display, regardless! I also like the subtle, probably unintended metaphor of all of those people at the heights - mostly layers of men - standing on a supporting base of women. The other metaphor is that the masses are being held up by a few strong men, which is dumb. And I honestly believe this is a purely aesthetic display, and that the metaphors I'm seeing are entirely of my own construction.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep these are insane, and really dangerous.

[–] xvapx@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are not so dangerous, in more than 200 years there are only 5 deaths documented as of 2016 ^1^ (I can't find a more recent source), and as of 2023 there were 79 potentially severe lesions for 5337 castells ^2^.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh wow that's indeed way less than I would've thought. Still dangerous IMO but clearly the people doing it are very good at it.

[–] Zonetrooper@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It doesn't look like they're carrying any weight. If you look at this video of the opening ceremonies, right at the beginning you can see the athletes in the torch not actually touching the level above them.

Longer versions of the ceremony seem to show moments where the acrobats on lower levels both have their hands out into the air, or are even hanging from the level above them - suggesting any given level is capable of supporting both the weight of those below and above it.

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don’t know why but I find the video extremely unsettling. At first I was like, oh neat, human dominoes! But then the formations started looking more and more like sea creatures, but made of people… I don’t know. I like sea creatures just fine. I do not like this.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

YOU MUST JOIN WITH THE FLESH

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Part of the ship, part of the crew.

Part of the ship, part of the crew.

Part of the ship, part of the crew.