E-Paper
Olympians closing in on man's limitations: Researchers
Top athletes are closing in on the limitations of human physical performance, sports physiology researchers have told the EuroScience Open Forum in Stockholm.
Top athletes are closing in on the limitations of human physical performance, sports physiology researchers have told the EuroScience Open Forum in Stockholm.
"If we don't accept doping, when it comes to physical ability to perform we are very close to the limit," said Michael Rennie, a professor of clinical physiology at the University of Nottingham in England.
He took the example of throwing events such as shot put, discus and hammer, suggesting that athletes in those events may already have reached the body's full potential.
"There's been almost no change in those world records since around 1989. (These events) require a lot of muscle mass, and it is possible that today's athletes have reached the optimal power-to-weight ratio," Rennie said.
Bengt Saltin, a leading researcher at Copenhagen's Muscle Research Centre, agreed, but said he believed that endurance events such as swimming and running could still see world records shaved by up to 10 per cent over the next 15 years.
He said marathon runners would be able to take minutes off their times in the future if they learned to maximise their aerobic capacity and economise their technique.
"I think they could run in 1 hour 55 minutes, instead of today's times of around 2.06," he said of the times for men's races.
Reaching the top echelon of sports has increasingly become a scientific endeavour, with athletes meticulously monitoring their training techniques and diet, working closely with physiologists in labs to maximise their strength, and, in some cases, doping themselves with banned substances.
