Records break at random

2002/05/30 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Anatomia/Fisiologia
• Matematika

It seems that in athletics tests there are no limits, as records break over and over again. Apparently, as better materials are achieved, and with the help of more precise training and preparations, athletes are able to overcome the marks of the previous ones. However, according to the mathematicians at the Jülich Research Centre (Germany), athletics records break with chance. According to them, athletes are not getting better and if records improve it is for statistical reasons.

His research, published in the journal Nature, explains his prediction about the best sports results of the 80's. Using a purely random method, they announced the results of the 90s and came almost completely right. It follows that in the sports required by the technique (in long jump and in high jump, among others) athletes have hit the top, and if a record is broken is due to unpredictable factors such as the propitious time or the use of better watches. Proof of this is, for example, the lack of records in the throws of discs and hammers since the 1980s, that is, since the adoption of strict anti-doping measures.

Another conclusion of the research is that at any given time, a significant improvement in records could be due to doping that cannot be detected at that time. It is known that substances to improve sports practice are invented before methods for detection. Therefore, if you take into account that athletes have reached the highest level, if someone gets a big difference with the previous brand, you may suspect that he has had the help of doping.