New Olympic Records: Evolution or Knowledge?

[DreamLord]

I was watching the Olympics and started thinking about that. It seems every time the Olympics roll around someone sets a record. There have been a few swimming records this year. So I began thinking: why? Is it because humans are evolving and actually becoming faster/stronger, whatever. Or is it because our knowledge of science has increased and we are able to train the athletes better, get more aerodynamic suits for the athletes, etc?

[Skye]

No. 2.

[jordan]

Can't it be both, with more emphasis on the second one?

[DreamLord]

Yes, it could be both. I think it is probably a bit of a both myself.

[LucidDreamer]

I wouldn't say evolution, exactly. Some of the things I think contribute are improved knowledge of training, improved knowledge of nutrition, and improved knowledge of drugs and supplements. Since the population of the earth is increasing the amount of people to select from to be athletes increases. Like one of the reasons that big high schools have better teams is because they have more people to choose from. Some athletes even plan to have children that are athletes. So they marry an athletic spouse and train them from birth. Since every year the bar is raised just a bit higher the expectations get higher (psychological). Also since countries become more productive each year they can afford to spend more resources on Olympic athletes.

[jordan]

When you get to the Olympic level it's a little different than highschool. One factor is that many people train for the Olympics but only a few win gold. Those who are best fit would also have had to work very hard to reach their goals. That hard work and dedication of one's life would have a very good chance of rubbing off on the athlete's kids. But the kids would have the added advantage on being geneticly similar to the parent who is a proven gold medal winner. That's how I see evolution playing into it.

[DreamLord]

That's kind of what I was thinking. A lot of these really good athletes in the olympics also had parents who were olympians. So it seems that the children had inherited the athletic traits of their parents. There are even a few who had both grandparents and parents in the olympics. So it would seem that some of these families could keep continuing to have generation after generation of athletes.

[Sayonara]

It's easier to push yourself when you have a goal to aim for (i.e. - the last record that as set.)

 

Perhaps it's that simple.

[badchad]

Probably a combination of all these factors. An example of waht sayonara said the 4 minute mile. For a long time, people thought it was impossible to break. Once somebody did it however, the goal was achieved a few more times in short succession. I believe the current record is approximatel 3:45.

 

Here's another question: How good are athletes going to get? For instance the 100M dash record is 9.78 I think. How much faster can a human get? I heard a statistic that when the record dropped from like 9.9 to 9.79 or something, it was the largest change in the world record in like 20 years. I think we could agree that it is almost impossible to go sub 9.0. Definetly impossible to go below 8.0 So will we ever reacha point where the records can't be broken??

[DreamLord]

Well, eventaully we would have to reach a point where the records become unbreakable. Though, when that will happen, I have no idea.

[LucidDreamer]

There maybe some point at which records are not being broken very often, but I believe we will continue to improve. Genetic engineering and designer children are just around the corner.

[DreamLord]

We will continue to improve, but to a point. Once a certain point is reach there would be no way to beat the record. Though I doubt that point would be reached anytime within my lifetime. Genetically engineered designer children... Scary thought. The word "Gattaca" keeps running through my mind.

[pulkit]

I think that ever improving scientific research keeps discovering and inventing drugs and steroids which can't yet be detected by standard doping tests. I am not sure about this, but till a particular chemical substance is banned maybe atheletes do take these substances. For eg. When nandralone first came out I am sure ppl tilll did take it before the olympic association decided to ban it. If you keep making these chemicals, atheletes will always have a legal way to improve their performance.

 

Plus the fact that now there are more professional athelets than ever before. Fifty or sixty years back, many athelets would have had alternative means of income and tus they were not 100% concentrated on their sport. Now there are atheletes who do nothing but sports, I am sure it does help.

[jordan]

The word "Gattaca" keeps running through my mind.

Yes, Gattaca. I remember that. Which brings to mind a point: Could we reach a point where the "athlete" doesn't recieve the medal or attention but the person who "designed" the athlete would be the hero? Almost like building a robot; no one wants to interview the robot but everyone wants to talk to the man who built him.

[Primarygun]

I was watching the Olympics and started thinking about that. It seems every time the Olympics roll around someone sets a record. There have been a few swimming records this year. So I began thinking: why? Is it because humans are evolving and actually becoming faster/stronger, whatever. Or is it because our knowledge of science has increased and we are able to train the athletes better, get more aerodynamic suits for the athletes, etc?

It is a bit vague of evolution in this case.

Evolution means the promoting of level of humans. It can refers to intelligent and techniques. Your evolution here refers to the strength and speed.

For swimming, I am subjective to say it is affected by science(technique).

The Asian swimmers such as the Japanese ones , they have beaten some European swimmers with their short body.

However, if we want to make it objective, I would say both are affecting the players.

[Wolfman]

You guys pretty much said it all but if I may add my 2 cents. We also gotta keep in mind that the Olympics is every 4 years so I cant think that well right now cause I just woke up but Im sure that contributes to something. I will be back later haha.

[DreamLord]

Yes, Gattaca. I remember that. Which brings to mind a point: Could we reach a point where the "athlete" doesn't recieve the medal or attention but the person who "designed" the athlete would be the hero? Almost like building a robot; no one wants to interview the robot but everyone wants to talk to the man who built him.

 

Hm, I doubt it would get to that point (but that is just me). Though I can picture a Gattaca-like scenario in which an athlete is "born" (created?) for a certain sport. I believe the character was a swimmer in that... I could see that in the near future really... Genetically engineering a child so they are very well suited to a particular sport.

[Thales]

Apparently Ian Thorpe was genetically bred to be more like a seal, true story

[jordan]

Hm, I doubt it would get to that point (but that is just me). Though I can picture a Gattaca-like scenario in which an athlete is "born" (created?) for a certain sport. I believe the character was a swimmer in that... I could see that in the near future really... Genetically engineering a child so they are very well suited to a particular sport.

They did swim though that really didn't have much to do with the movie. I was asking, though, who would get more credit, the guy who engineered this gold-medal athlete or the athlete himself? You seem to think the athlete would get more credit. I think the reverse could come true some day.

[DreamLord]

You may be right. I guess it depends how they were created. if these scientists in the future are creating babies, then I think it would still be the athletes. But if they are creating older humans, then I think the scientists would get more credit.