Not got figures in front of me, but in athletics, I do know that if you looked at the fastest time run in whatever distance, back in say the 1930's, the compared that to the 60's, then compared it to now, you find that the speeds get incrementally faster. Obvious reason as to why this is, fitter, stronger, better diet, more professional, etc, etc. The gaps are not huge of course, I am not saying that in the 30's, someone took an hour to run what someone can do in five mins today, but the speeds do keep increasing. Surely that must end, there must be a glass ceiling? It cannot just keep going, because if you followed that all the way, it would then mean that over time, they could shift as fast as a small deer! You take my point - there must be a limit. Right?
1500 meter times have dropped about one minute over 100 yrs...100 meters about 2.4 secs over 100yrs I would think we are nearly the limits for most if not all distances,the science of sports performance can only get so much out of human body the increments of improvement will get smaller and smaller...significant performance improvements will now come when sports science meets with genetic wonders like Usain Bolt... the marathon records would seem to indicate mens time are leveling off and womens have a ways to go before they reach their ultimate limits
There's nothing wrong with the speeds becoming faster, as long as athletes aren't using performance altering drugs.
In about thirty or so years from now we'll probably be using some kind of technology that we attach to our legs to make us run at speeds currently undreamt of. And this will be legal in things like the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games because, by then, people will probably no longer be breaking records so such technology will be allowed and will become the norm.
not sure about that, in some auto racing events the cars got so fast that restrictions were put on on cars to slow them down but yet people still attend the races for the competition and not for new speed records which put out of reach...
