Advanced Technologies of the Greeks in Athletics

2002/11/14 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia
• Fisika
• Historia

The ancient Greeks left in many drawings the images of the sports they then practiced. One of them was the long jump. In many images appear the salters carrying in their hands tools called halteras. The halters were stone or lead weights weighing between 2 and 9 kilos and the jumper carried one in each hand.

Scientists from the Metropolitan University of Manchester have carried out studies on the influence of these highs on the jump. Thanks to computer simulations and jumps made by volunteers, they have found that they were getting longer jumps with weights.

The halters manage to increase the energy produced by the muscles of the jumper: With your arms in front of the beginning of the jump and going back before landing, the body's mass center changes and longer jumps are achieved. They say that although not much effort is made, in a three meter jump you can get jump 17 centimeters more with the halteras.