To wonder if athletes at "peak performance" now, and we just can't get faster/higher etc

[llamajohn]

Looking at the Olympics where the winner is 100ths of a second faster than the second place, and the third place is a 5th of a second behind or whatever.

Surely this means we just can't get faster/stronger? And all the records will soon be permanently set.

It's a bit crazy to think that goods are won on ½ a pint here, or a fraction of a centimeter there.

Ha ha I guess so 😂😂

For decades, it was generally accepted nobody would ever run a four-minute mile. Then Roger Bannister did it. Now the record is 3.43.

Edit: Oh, and it's anticipated that a woman will do a four-minute mile in the not too distant future. Currently the fastest female record is 4:07.

I think they must have almost hit the limit. It took a collosal attempt to squeeze the mens marathon under 2hrs.

Maybe but there are always people with freak genetics. The more opportunities for more people to take up sport the more will be found imo.

I was listening to a healthy aging podcast and the person being interviewed had worked with sports teams, she was talking about how intensely monitored and controlled their diet and exercise regimes were, how their response and recovery times were also monitored etc. I guess they continuously work on the science of sport and fitness so there are probably still some marginal gains to be made.

I think there is still huge untapped potential in places where there is little investment in grassroot sports such as many African Countries. Also Sport Science is still uncovering things around diet and training that will lead to micro improvements that move into new records.

Also- technology gets better-
I was watching a video about the track surface and trainers- both having improved to help times.
But humans always push themselves and will try to get to the next level.

But there's got to be a limit of just how fast a human can run surely? We can't run 100m in 3 seconds for example. We seem to be at the limit, and can possibly only get a 100th of seconds faster? Will we beat 9s? I don't think so, just teeny incremental steps but the limit must be somewhere?

There's talk of having an 'Enhanced Olympics' where athletes are allowed to dope. So that would increase the limits.

And for non-enhanced improvement, generations tend to get taller, so that will make them faster etc.

People probably thought that years ago, and since then spikes and starter blocks have moved the goalposts.

Apparently not many records are being set in the swimming because it's "not a fast pool". I'd love to know what the physics of that is.

Women's records will keep getting broken because they're letting men set them now 🙄

I think there's quite an interesting conversation to be had around this. I know javelins with dimples/ridges were banned as it made them fly further - so not all technology improvement will necessarily be usable. But is it fair to compare the records if it’s the equipment making the difference rather than the athlete?
Although with the javelin I suppose it's probably a safety issue - They can't have them throwing them further than the current landing areas when there's a race track and spectators at the end!

I also remember a sprinter in the para Olympics saying they should be able to run in the "normal" (sorry I couldn't think of a better word!) Olympics as they were just as fast on their blades. They then added they could even end up faster with the right blades. I thought if we allow that might we have some super competitive people willing to remove their perfectly healthy legs to have the replaced with faster prosthetics?!

We havent even scratched the surface. Sporting limits come down to a huge array of factors.

Genetics
Parents
Diet
Upbringing
Mentality
Talent
Nationality

Thats without going into things in detail like Mo Farah did. He was an average (World class) runner for years. Probably top 10 in the world. He looked at his training in every facet and looked for 0.1% improvement in every single thing he did. By the time he had finished it added up to 10% and he dominated for years.

Everything can be improved upon. We have the 'Rooney' effect in children who havent got the privalidged access to most of the list. Wayne Rooney was a man at 16 years old. Luckily for him he had access to a sport where access to coaching and involvement is pretty easy. Imagine if his love was for tennis or cricket. He was just different to normal kids. Imagine similar children all over the world getting access to amazing diets, amazing training and not having to break down barriers.

The more access to free sport for children, acess to good facilities, the more access to good nutrition and the more access to good coaching the higher the levels will become.

I have witnessed international sport for children 1st hand and it is pretty pathetic tbh. It is dominated by well off parents funding their offspring because the coaches need the money to survive and the governing bodies are underfunded.

People always asssume they are witnessing the peak then a Usain Bolt rocks up, I'm hoping the next Linford Christie turns up and soundly thrashes all these youngsters while in his/her Thirties Forties.

With fitness being taken so seriously, diets, training, equipment, understanding and healthcare constantly improving I doubt we have reached the peak yet.
Look at the improvements in prosthetic legs, Athletes with two could bounce round that track so much faster than able bodied athletes, if they weren't restricted.That's a future sport right there, I'd watch it.

But, this Olympics I'm really hoping for an older star athlete to make everyone go "but how the hell?"

It's very possible that someone will do sub-9-seconds. We really don't know where the limit is.

And Roger Bannister only held the record for just over a month!

That would be so interesting to watch, but also possibly devastating for the health of competitors.

Are competitors currently allowed to dope to train, as long as they are clean to compete? How would anyone know?
I imagine it's pretty hard to police if any competitors actually enhance their strength using drugs during training.

Deeper pools are faster I think because the wake takes longer to bounce back to the surface.

Strongman is a good example of a sport where doping isn't banned (actually is mandatory if you want to qualify for anything). They achieve amazing things but Eddie Hall stopped in his 30s as he thought the dope was going to kill him. But then Mark Felix is still competing at near 60. In some countries, like China, it's hard to see a top athlete being allowed to stop doping if they were winning Olympic medals.

Injuries are ridiculously common.

I follow Eilish McColgan on FB. She often posts abut being drug tested, either on her day off or very early in the morning. So I assume all UK athletes are regularly drug tested (though they will be frequently competing through the year, not just the Olympics). Happy to be corrected.

My DC represented GB as a Jr and knew that they could be randomly drug tested at any time.
They wouldn't even take a paracetamol.

There is some awful cautionary tale might be an urban myth but scared us to death about (and I may not have this exactly right) I think a GB snow boarder went to USA and bought an over the counter cold remedy-the exact one they used in the uk-but it wasn't exactly the same and they were banned.

There is a website that the athletes use and some drugs are ok for training but not competition.
There also became issues with things like asthma inhalers being over used and beta blockers to steady nerves/hands etc etc etc

It is the BIG difference between humans and our use of animals for sport.

We don't tend to breed ourselves to improve performance do we? I. E sports horse breeding or anything where the performance of the animal matters, breeding plays a key role, the key role if you ask some people.

Maybe if the Usain Bolts start breeding with the Sha'Carri Richardsons of the world, we will reach new heights in terms of human performance.

I agree with this, wider access to sports for children the world over would be great for seeing talent emerge, reality is for most unless you have a bit of money and your parents are vaguely interested it’s difficult to get in and stay in.

There were a couple of Team GB cyclists in the past few years who had kids, weren’t there? Would be interesting to see if they’re winning in 15 years. Anything else is a bit Brave New World for me but it’s definitely an interesting thought experiment.