
All Olympic gold medal winners in the 100m sprint compared in one race - andrewfromx
http://interaktiv.tagesanzeiger.ch/2016/100meter/en/
======
qwerki
Animations and factoids like this are somewhat deceiving. They imply a message
that human runners have improved constantly since 1896 without taking into
account the fact that in this period the running surface has continually
improved, running shoes have gone through significant incremental
improvements, starting blocks have been added and timing equipment have become
more accurate.

As an example, everyone heralds Jim Hines for breaking 10 seconds in 1968 but
not many acknowledge the fact that the Mexico 1968 was the first Olympic Games
to use the Tartan track surface in athletics instead of what was essentially
hardened sand.

~~~
kazinator
The animation is deceiving simply because it doesn't show acceleration. Those
starting blocks you mention will have a big impact on the initial
acceleration, but ultimately, the data isn't there; we don't know what meter
splits any of those medalists ran.

Regarding running shoes though, there really are no "running shoes" to speak
of in sprinting. I doubt that changes in sprinting spikes have made any
difference in many decades. There are only so many ways to make a toe spike
plate with a negligible heel, sewn up into a room slipper.

I'm going to google for images and surrounding info about historic sprinting
spikes now. [...] Hmm, one obvious difference is that the pre-1960's spikes
were looong due to the track surfaces before tartan. Those nails look like
what is used for cross-country today, wow. They would not even be allowed on a
modern track.

~~~
JoshTriplett
> The animation is deceiving simply because it doesn't show acceleration.
> Those starting blocks you mention will have a big impact on the initial
> acceleration, but ultimately, the data isn't there; we don't know what meter
> splits any of those medalists ran.

For any Olympic races held after the availability of video recording, you
could get a reasonable approximation of split times, with careful review of
the video and timer. Not with the same degree of precision as the race timers
themselves, but with enough precision to compare acceleration.

------
schoen
One thing that keeps feeling weird to me is that my time to sprint 100 m _on a
bicycle_ roughly tracks the world record to do it on foot, while my time to
cycle a marathon course roughly tracks the world record to run it on foot.
That really gives me some appreciation for how fit these athletes are!

I'm actually not certain whether I could beat the world record runners over
any distance at all using my bicycle.

~~~
mikekchar
I don't think you'd have to train much to get to 42k in 2 hours -- at least on
a road bike. 20 kph is a pretty leisurely pace and even if you only train 3
days a week for a couple of months, I'm pretty sure you could do it.

100m in 9.6 seconds from a standing start, though... That would be pretty
tough. You'd need a fixed gear bike, I think, and crazy grippy tyres :-) I've
never ridden track and I often wonder what kind of acceleration those guys can
get.

~~~
schoen
> 20 kph is a pretty leisurely pace

It's still faster than current my long-distance pace. What people tell me I'm
missing is that I've never adopted clipless pedals (pedal cleats) and am still
riding flat pedals even over 100 km and 100 mi distances. So I'm not getting
power on the upstroke as 95% of the other event participants probably are.

~~~
brokenmachine
I have read a fairly compelling site saying that it is a myth that you get
significant power on the upstroke. I'll try to find the link.

I suspect the more important part is that you are getting better power while
pushing down because your foot is always in the optimal position.

Edit: it's discussed at
[https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/14059/are-
there...](https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/14059/are-there-any-
scientific-studies-proving-the-benefits-of-clipless-pedal-systems)

~~~
schoen
Wow, that's different from what I've heard before. Thanks for the link; I'll
have to keep looking into this.

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aaron695
Bill Murray (twitter) - Every Olympic event should include one average person
competing for reference.

~~~
rplnt
That would be dangerous in events that use laps.

~~~
HiroshiSan
Not if they stay in their lane depending on the event, and just move out of
the way when they get lapped.

~~~
usaphp
Average person will probably get lapped on the first lap. Current 400m WR is
43s. Average relatively fit person runs 400m in around 1:50s.

~~~
animal531
Well, you can't get lapped on a 400m (on a normal outdoor track); but
definitely true for longer races.

Perhaps the normal people can have a whole group on the outside lane just
running 200m splits.

------
xeniak
> based on linear time difference

No point being animated then, as it's unlikely to be accurate.

I always wonder how accurate the WR line is for swimming events... is it
linear, base on splits, or more granular?

~~~
emp_
Its based on each split.

Found a quora link with more details: [1]

[1] [https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-yellow-world-record-line-
in...](https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-yellow-world-record-line-in-swimming-
competitions-calculated-is-it-assuming-an-even-pace-over-the-whole-distance-
or-is-it-where-the-current-WR-holder-was-when-she-or-he-broke-the-WR)

~~~
xeniak
So the line is most accurate towards the end of a lap, and probably quite
inaccurate at the start (given how much speed you gain during a coming out of
a turn).

~~~
sleepychu
That probably works in the favour of the broadcaster if you don't understand
how it's calculated. Exciting to see people on the line of the WR.

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xfour
One standout by far is Jim Hines in 1968 breaks 10 seconds which is not done
again for 12 years and after which point seems to follow a linear downward
march.

~~~
danieltillett
It is amazing how much of a difference altitude made. We need to hold an
Olympics in Lhasa.

~~~
lordnacho
That might work for the 100m sprint, but I suspect everything else would be
quite challenging.

I walked around Cuzco (~3200m) and I felt very slightly out of breath. Any
jogging would have me panting quite fast.

It's high enough that drinks bottles that I'd bought in Cuzco would slightly
collapse when I came down to the coast at Lima.

~~~
arethuza
I remember skiing at about 3600m and checking the air pressure on my watch and
being genuinely surprised to see it was 60% of sea level - no wonder it was
noticeable. Particularly if you get a lift that goes pretty much from 1600m to
3200m!

I've noticed that about 3000m seems to be the point where I really notice the
effect of altitude.

------
jamies888888
This is cool. Would be much cooler though if instead of the animations being
linear, they were actually representing the athlete's run. So, Bolt's recent
run started slow and sped up after 60m.

------
catacombs
The New York Times did a similar story about the fastest male gold medal
winners since 1896.
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/15/sports/olympic...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/15/sports/olympics/usain-
bolt-and-120-years-of-sprinting-history.html)

In my opinion, the graphics are a lot better.

------
bartfehr
Thanks for the feedback on that one, I put the code up on Github, it's a very
simple animation but in the end it seemed to me like less is more in that case
:). Here we go!

[https://github.com/ta-interaktiv/ta-interactive-
public](https://github.com/ta-interaktiv/ta-interactive-public)

------
Osiris30
Similar NY Times interactive for the 100m:
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/05/sports/olympic...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/05/sports/olympics/the-100-meter-
dash-one-race-every-medalist-ever.html)

~~~
honkhonkpants
[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/15/sports/olympic...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/15/sports/olympics/usain-
bolt-and-120-years-of-sprinting-history.html)

------
sangd
False comparison: it's important to point out technologies, tools, track
quality, and many other factors in this race. We haven't really improved that
many seconds. David Epstein has a very good talk about whether we've really
gotten faster, better, stronger:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_g...](http://www.ted.com/talks/david_epstein_are_athletes_really_getting_faster_better_stronger?language=en&utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=talk&utm_term=science#t-521303)

------
bwooceli
All the comments about comparing apples-to-apples have merit. But I see this
as a commentary on the advance of civilization overall. What an amazing time
in history that we have the luxury of dedicating resources to these pursuits.
I hear people complain about the "value" of the arts, music, and amateur
sport. I argue that the strength of civilization (global civilization in this
case) can in part be measured by how much freedom we have to facilitate the
pursuit of individual interests. So yes, the shoes, surface, timing equipment,
etc are better - that's the point. What an achievement.

------
jonknee
Man, Allan Wells seemingly lucked out in 1980 with a 10.25s time when the
prior Olympic time was 10.06 and the next time was 9.99. He ran the last time
over 10 seconds.

~~~
deepfriedbits
Yep. 66 countries, including the U.S., China, Japan, Canada, Argentina and
Israel, boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

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piqufoh
Pretty neat, but it's not __all __olympic gold medal winners, we 're
neglecting a significant half of the population. Where are the women?

~~~
overcast
That's why it says 100m Men at the top.

------
Kenji
_The sprints are based on the linear time difference between 0 and 100 meter._

That's too bad, and here I thought they would precisely simulate the nonlinear
aspects that make the competition so interesting.

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lukiebriner
This crashed the graphics in every tab of Opera when I tried to look at it!
Even with this tab closed, had to restart. Gulp.

~~~
denzil_correa
It wasn't just me then.

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lttlrck
It's a little surprising to me there isn't a doping/nutrition bump in there.

~~~
justinator
In 1988, Ben Johnson was stripped of his Gold. His time was 9.79, which would
not have been beaten until Bolt in 2008 - 20 years later. Johnson admits to
doping, but also is adamant that Carl Lewis was also not racing clean.

~~~
ablation
'The Dirtiest Race in History' is a very good book about this race written by
Richard Moore.

~~~
drrob
I read this book about a month ago, it's excellent.

~~~
lordnacho
What does it conclude about Lewis?

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andrewvijay
So 10.81 is not the expected one this time. Also in the future how far can it
reduce? Wow.

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Wozber
nice!

