David Epstein answers the question many athletes were wondering since the recent trend of world records being broken every year.
Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that the athletes of today are not really any faster or stronger than those that were the best of the best 50 years ago.
The gist of it all, is technology.
In 1972, in one hour a man cycled just over 30 miles. Of course it was the world record at the time. In 1996, a new world record was set. The cyclist, travelled just over 35 miles in the same one hour however this was not due to training. The new record was set due to new bicycles and new suits to wear, which allowed for a sizeable 5 mile jump.
However the cycling federation was the first to declare that the record would not stand unless the cyclist did the same challenge in the same exact gear as the original world record holder.
Under the same circumstances, the new record was set by an improvement of only a few hundred feet. Marginal, but a record none the less.
And in track, Jesse Owens, gold medalist and World Record setter of the 1934 Olympics would come 2nd only to Usain Bolt if they raced on the same surface, in the game gear this day in age. The distance Owens would have lost by, would have been 4 feet. In a sprinters world, that is nothing. This is another prime example showing the impacts technology has on records and the perception they can have on the general populous.
In some cases, athletes are hyped up through social media and then they disappoint.
However in certain cases, the training does make a difference and the athlete is the deciding factor as tactics rather than technology evolve.
It is not alright and we can’t blame technology though.
We do this all the time, with what we think is better on its own is really only as good as the piece of work making things easier for you. A shortcut, in some minds.
This is why some people, do things the old fashioned way. This “original” way is done with things from churning butter to making houses.
All in all, if you really want to break records and be better than the previous generation at whatever it may be you are trying to do, be original and rely on technology to create a big cap in what we think is “better”.
Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that the athletes of today are not really any faster or stronger than those that were the best of the best 50 years ago.
The gist of it all, is technology.
In 1972, in one hour a man cycled just over 30 miles. Of course it was the world record at the time. In 1996, a new world record was set. The cyclist, travelled just over 35 miles in the same one hour however this was not due to training. The new record was set due to new bicycles and new suits to wear, which allowed for a sizeable 5 mile jump.
However the cycling federation was the first to declare that the record would not stand unless the cyclist did the same challenge in the same exact gear as the original world record holder.
Under the same circumstances, the new record was set by an improvement of only a few hundred feet. Marginal, but a record none the less.
And in track, Jesse Owens, gold medalist and World Record setter of the 1934 Olympics would come 2nd only to Usain Bolt if they raced on the same surface, in the game gear this day in age. The distance Owens would have lost by, would have been 4 feet. In a sprinters world, that is nothing. This is another prime example showing the impacts technology has on records and the perception they can have on the general populous.
In some cases, athletes are hyped up through social media and then they disappoint.
However in certain cases, the training does make a difference and the athlete is the deciding factor as tactics rather than technology evolve.
It is not alright and we can’t blame technology though.
We do this all the time, with what we think is better on its own is really only as good as the piece of work making things easier for you. A shortcut, in some minds.
This is why some people, do things the old fashioned way. This “original” way is done with things from churning butter to making houses.
All in all, if you really want to break records and be better than the previous generation at whatever it may be you are trying to do, be original and rely on technology to create a big cap in what we think is “better”.