LIGHTNING BOLT IN THE 200M

[David]

..or a 14 year old gold medalist

[krunchie]

i wonder how many people in society have these sort of attributes, but never come through the system. i.e there might be a local footballer, country footballer, that is rubbish at footy, but with the right training, could be the best swimmer ever.

lol that is 1 advantage of living in a country like china - if you have these attributes, then you are now a swimmer

i have thought about this topic often benny the cunt in a slightly different way

I am a firm believer that Everybody has the makings of being a champ in a sport, but probably never even once plays the sport you are destined for.

for example i have played hockey, atheletics, rugby, and cricket

ive always done ok but never great, but what if I was made to be a handballer, and if i ever did i may turn out i was the Don bradman of handballers, but because i have never played i will never realise my potential.

every body has the abiltiy to be a champ they just have to find their sport

[maccatak11]

same with lance armstrong, his V02 max (ability for his blood to carry oxygen)

Have to correct you here. Its pedantic, but VO2 max is a measure of the ability of the muscles to use oxygen efficiently, not the blood to carry it.

Athletes often do try to increase the amount of red blood cells (their hematocrit) they have in their blood in order to do the thing you mentioned, most ofthen by the drug EPO (erythropoeitn - think thats spelt right). But that makes blood more viscous, which is why you sometimes see 23 year old cyclists die of heart attacks.

why dont sprinters do the 400m as well? with the stride that bolt has, i bet he would make a great 400m runner.

Its got to do with the different enregy systems that produce ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) at different intensities and for different times.


For instantaneous actions (e.g. shot put) and for high intensity events lasting 10-20 seconds, our ATP-CP or phospho-creatine system is predominantly used, where stored carbohydrates are the main energy source.

For longer events lasting 30s-2min, lactic acid is produced as a byproduct of anaerobic glycolosis - this is commonly called our 'lactic acid' system.

The reason why 100 and 200 metre runners don't often run the 400 is that different energy systems are used for these events, and their training is often geared to train one of these systems, not both.


In my opinion, this makes Michale Phelps' achievements more outstanding from a sports science point of view, as he has proved himself in different length events.

But for bolt to be so far ahead of his nearest rivals is just amazing, im on the fence with this one.

[BigPete33]

What's this? an intelligent discussion about sport?

stop it!

"My dad can beat up your dad" is way more fun



Spot on about the 400m vs the 1/200m though. Back in the day I did quite a bit of athletics (no, really) and it's perhaps easiest to explain it like... the 100 and 200m are flat out sprints which are much more attuned to using raw power with good technique. Once you make it 400m it's a lot harder to keep it as simple as that and your body/muscles need to be doing slightly different things towards the end of the race even though it still appears to be a basic flat out sprint.

I was reasonable at the 100m, pretty good at the 200m, completely useless at the 400m and if anyone mentioned anything longer than that to me they got a dirty look lol

It's absolutely true about the sprinters being born and not made. Someone can train like no1 has ever trained before but if they don't have the right % of white muscle fibers they are fighting a losing battle. This is because (from memory) white muscle fibers can be trained into red muscle fibers (better for endurance) but not vice versa. So if you are born with a high % of red muscle fibres you will never be the next Mr Bolt but it's very likely you could be brilliant at the marathon or something.


Wasn't there some program going around yonks ago analysing kids to see what kind of sport they could theoretically be good at based on the make-up of their body? It might have even been in preparation for the Sydney Olympics?? Something about kids of <x> age were being looked at because by the time the Olympics came around they'd be at their peak or some such.

[maccatak11]

Pete, not sure about white fibres being trained into red ones (never heard of this, although you could be right), but you are definately correct regarding the percentage of fast-twitch (white) or slow-twitch (red) muscle fibres that you are born with.


So sprinters can have a genetic advantage over others in the field, but id say they are as much made as they are born. Whpse to say that Usain Bolt didnt have the highest % of white fibres, but he trained the ones that he did have to a higher level than others.

Natural ability comes into it, but technique and training are just as important.


(man i love it when sports science questions are brought up - im in my element )

[BigPete33]

I certainly wasn't suggesting he didn't have to train his rear off More a case of the others could train two rears off (Tasmanians?) and still possibly be behind the 8 ball just due to natural advantage.

It must be incredibly frustrating to be in the final of the 100m knowing you have practically no chance of winning/medalling unless someone stacks it or something... kinda sounds like a waste of 4 years of effort.

[rcon]

It must be incredibly frustrating to be in the final of the 100m knowing you have practically no chance of winning/medalling unless someone stacks it

See herefor further information

[bennymacca]

It must be incredibly frustrating to be in the final of the 100m knowing you have practically no chance of winning/medalling unless someone stacks it

See herefor further information

what people may not know, is that in bradbury's heat, he finished third, when the top 2 qualify. but the 2nd place getter got DQed, so he went through.

then in the semi final, he was well off the pace, and the first 3 dudes fell so he went through to the final.

then in the final, the first 4 dudes fell at the last turn and he went through for the gold!!

noone can ever take that away from him, well done

[maccatak11]

was that last post just in case somebodies mouse didn't work? redundant

[AceLosesKing]

was that last post just in case somebodies mouse didn't work? redundant

So like all of benny the cunt's posts, matt?