Aug 21 2008
RamblerIs Technology Giving Today’s Olympians an Unfair Advantage?
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An unprecedented 25 world records have been broken during the swimming competition portion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Four years ago in Athens eight world records were broken.
Other sports are seeing world records being broken as well, but swimming is the predominant record-breaking sport at the 2008 Olympics.
Wondering why?
The Beijing pool is 3 meters deep. This is one meter deeper than standard competitive pools. The extra meter in depth actually dissipates the turbulence caused by the swimmer’s movement. This means less resistance.
Do technological improvements like this diminish the value of modern sporting records? Does this give today’s athletes an unfair advantage over athletes who came before? There are some who suggest that since the reduced friction suits used by runners and swimmers give them an advantage over previous competitors their race times should be adjusted accordingly.
Here’s the problem with that line of reasoning. Technology has always been part of sports. Consider the design of runners’ shoes and how bikes have been aerodynamically improved over time. Many factors have changed and improved over time.
What matters is how today’s athletes use what is available to them (within the rules). It’s not about whether they have an unfair advantage. Michael Phelps is the fastest swimmer ever. That he swam wearing a streamlined suit instead of a pair of baggy trunks is purely irrelevant. Now…if he’d done it taking steroids THAT would be a different matter altogether.
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3 responses so far
Saying that Technology is give people an edge doesn’t make much sense to me either. Everyone has the same edge at the time of the event.
What today Olympians can be thankful for is that they are not fighting to the death.
I think I’m going to have to partially disagree with you. At some point, you have to establish a level playing field. For these Olympic Games, they had a level playing field. They had a choice to use the swim suits or not…In shorter races, many of the top sprinters (male) went shirtless or bare-chested. And yes, the 3M deep pool has a difference. In terms of these Olympic games, none of that matters since all competitors competed with the same conditions.
In terms of comparing this years Olympians versus Olympians 4 years ago, well, at some point, the playing field is not level so the comparisons between the two groups are useless. 4 years ago, the technology wasn’t as new with the swimsuits and they competed in a 2M pool. Different conditions, so you can’t compare the two.
This is why the records set in Mexico City always had an asterisk. Mexico City is at 7000 feet in elevation. Entirely different conditions than at sea level where most Olympic Games are held. With thinner air, there is less wind resistance and it’s possible to go faster.
In another example, when we look at box office grosses for movies, in trying to compare one movie versus another, there is always the asterisk: Adjusted for 2008 dollars. Because there is such a thing as inflation. And Star Wars’ $460 Million in ticket sales in 1977 and Titanic’s $603 Million in 1998 and The Dark Knights $470 Million in 2008 represent different dollar amounts, so to keep that level playing field, they are adjusted for inflation to current year dollars.
cheers!
I completely agree with you. Saying that today’s athletes have an unfair advantage over athletes from decades ago is ridiculous. Does that mean we should stop improving the functionality and speed of race cars because they go faster than those of a generation ago? Absolutely not. Technology is what it is, and we certainly shouldn’t penalize those whose lives and talents are made better because of it.
Good post!