Body measures, key in sports

2010/07/31 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Anatomia/Fisiologia
• Fisika

On the one hand, some U.S. engineers analyzed last year's fastest Olympic Games swimmers and runners from 1900 to the present and realized that records are getting longer. In addition, they have grown much faster than the normal population. In fact, since 1900 the population has elongated on an average of 4.8 cm, while the fastest swimmers have grown 11.43 cm and the most intense have grown 16.25.

According to engineers, this evolution coincides with the constructive theory developed at Duke University. This theory serves to explain some phenomena of nature, such as the formation of river basins. Relating the times made to the weight and height of records, they assured that the relationship depends on this theory.

In addition, based on theory, engineers announced that speed records will remain in the hands of growing athletes. Therefore, in order for small athletes to have the opportunity to climb the podium, they have proposed to create weight categories in races and swimming, such as judo and other sports.

On the other hand, in a recently published study, researchers have focused on race and record figure. In fact, it is clear that the fastest runners are usually black —he recently got a white to perform 100 meters in less than 10 seconds and his brand was 9.98. Usain Bolt has a record at 9.58.” Lighter swimmers are white.

Color is not complication

However, researchers have ruled out skin color and studied the remains. Thus, they have seen that the best 100 meter runners, Jamaicans, Africans and Canadians, originate from West Africa in general. And people in the area tend to have long limbs and a small trunk circumference. Therefore, the center of gravity is superior to the shorter legs and with a wider trunk, that is, higher than whites and Asians.

Measurements indicate that blacks have the 3% center of gravity above, which makes it 1.5% faster running than the rest. In fact, in the locomotion, the mass of the body falls forward and then ascends; the mass falling above falls faster. Therefore, to run fast, it is good to have the center of gravity high.

On the contrary, having the center of gravity low is an advantage for whites when swimming, who are as fast as blacks running: 1.5%. Asians, by definition, have the center of gravity even lower than Europeans, but having shorter limbs are not faster than Europeans.

Therefore, not the color of the skin, but the proportion between the parts of the body makes some fast and others swimming. This totally rejects some hypotheses with racist tints. In any case, researchers have warned that, in addition to biological factors, cultural factors also have something to do with this distinction, such as ease of access to swimming pools or socio-economic levels.

The first study was published last year in the journal Journal of Experimental Biology and the second recently published in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics.

Published in Gara