Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger? | David Epstein

The March of Athletic Progress

In this section, the speaker discusses how athletes have been fulfilling the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger) and how athletic progress has been made over time.

Athletic Progress Over Time

• Athletes are not evolving into a new species in a century. So what's going on here?

• Jesse Owens held the world record in the 100 meters in 1936. Had he been racing against Usain Bolt in 2012, he would have still had 14 feet to go.

• Biomechanical analysis shows that if Owens had been running on the same surface as Bolt, he wouldn't have been 14 feet behind; he would have been within one stride.

• Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to run under four minutes in the mile in 1954. Nowadays, college kids do that every year. As of last year, only 530 men had run under four minutes in the mile.

Factors Affecting Athletic Progress

• Running on soft cinders is one and a half percent slower than running on synthetic tracks.

• More people are training today and they're training more intelligently compared to Sir Roger Bannister who trained for only 45 minutes at a time while ditching gynecology lectures in med school.

• Athletes have gotten more savvy about performance-enhancing drugs as well but technology has made a difference in all sports from faster skis to lighter shoes.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes by discussing how technology has made a difference in all sports and how athletes have gotten more savvy about performance-enhancing drugs.

Final Thoughts

• Technology has made a difference in all sports, from faster skis to lighter shoes.

• Athletes have gotten more savvy about performance-enhancing drugs as well.

The Impact of Technology on Sports Performance

This section discusses how technology has changed the face of sports performance.

Evolution of Cycling Records

• Eddy Merckx set the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour at 30 miles, 3,774 feet in 1972.

• In 1996, the record improved to 35 miles, 1,531 feet due to improvements in bicycles and aerodynamics.

• However, in 2000, the International Cycling Union decreed that anyone who wanted to hold that record had to do so with essentially the same equipment that Eddy Merckx used in 1972.

• Today, the record stands at 30 miles, 4,657 feet which is a grand total of 883 feet farther than Eddy Merckx cycled more than four decades ago. Essentially the entire improvement in this record was due to technology.

Changes in Athletes' Bodies

• The gene pool within competitive sports has changed over time as coaches realized that highly specialized bodies are better suited for certain athletic niches rather than an average body type.

• As a result of this realization and self-sorting for bodies that fit certain sports, athletes' bodies became more different from one another.

• This phenomenon is called "The Big Bang of Body Types" and it shows how athletes' bodies have gotten much more different from one another over time.

The Impact of Financial Incentives on Athletes' Bodies

This section discusses how financial incentives have impacted athletes' bodies.

NBA Players' Bodies

• The National Basketball Association (NBA) signed a groundbreaking agreement in 1983 making players partners in the league, entitled to shares of ticket revenues and television contracts.

• As a result, teams started scouring the globe for bodies that could help them win championships and almost overnight, the proportion of men in the NBA who are at least seven feet tall doubled to 10 percent.

• Today, one in 10 men in the NBA is at least seven feet tall. In sports where height is prized, like basketball, the tall athletes got taller.

Changes in Athletes' Bodies

• In sports where large size is prized, like basketball, large athletes have gotten larger. Conversely, in sports where diminutive stature is an advantage, small athletes got smaller.

Body Types and Athletic Performance

In this section, the speaker discusses how body types can affect athletic performance.

Ideal Body Types for Different Sports

• In throwing sports, a longer arm is advantageous for forceful throwing.

• Swimmers benefit from having a long torso and short legs for speed over water, while runners benefit from having long legs and a short torso.

• The Kalenjin tribe in Kenya has produced many elite distance runners due to their unique physiology of very long and thin legs at the extremity.

Accessing Physical Resources

• Our brain acts as a limiter to prevent us from accessing all our physical resources, but we can push it back by convincing the brain that pushing harder won't be mortal danger.

• Endurance sports were once thought to be harmful to human health, but we have traits that are perfect for ultra-endurance such as no body fur, narrow waists with long legs compared to our frames, large surface area of joints for shock absorption, an arch in our foot that acts like a spring, short toes better for pushing off than grasping tree limbs.

Changing Mindset

• Athletes have a different mindset now than they once did. They are learning more about how to push their limits without hurting themselves.

• Innovation in sports such as new track surfaces or swimming techniques has also contributed to changes in athletic performance.