The Olympic motto is "Citius, Altius, Fortius." Faster, Higher, Stronger. And athletes have fulfilled that motto rapidly. The winner of the 2012 Olympic marathon ran two hours and eight minutes. Had he been racing against the winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon, he would have won by nearly an hour and a half. Now we all have this feeling that we're somehow just getting better as a human race, inexorably progressing, but it's not like we've evolved into a new species in a century. So what's going on here? I want to take a look at what's really behind this march of athletic progress.
Olimpijski moto je "Citius, Altius, Fortius". Brže, više, jače. I sportaši su uspjeli ostvariti taj moto ubrzano. Pobjednik olimpijskog maratona 2012. godine je trčao dva sata i osam minuta. U slučaju da se utrkivao s pobjednikom olimpijskog maratona iz 1904. godine bio bi bolji za gotovo sat i pol. Danas svi imamo osjećaj da jednostavno postajemo bolji kao ljudska vrsta, neumoljivo napredujući, ali nije baš da smo evoluirali u novu vrstu tijekom jednog stoljeća. Pa što se zaista ovdje događa? Želim vidjeti što zapravo stoji iza ovog marširajućeg sportskog napretka.
In 1936, Jesse Owens held the world record in the 100 meters. Had Jesse Owens been racing last year in the world championships of the 100 meters, when Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt finished, Owens would have still had 14 feet to go. That's a lot in sprinter land. To give you a sense of how much it is, I want to share with you a demonstration conceived by sports scientist Ross Tucker. Now picture the stadium last year at the world championships of the 100 meters: thousands of fans waiting with baited breath to see Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history; flashbulbs popping as the nine fastest men in the world coil themselves into their blocks. And I want you to pretend that Jesse Owens is in that race. Now close your eyes for a second and picture the race. Bang! The gun goes off. An American sprinter jumps out to the front. Usain Bolt starts to catch him. Usain Bolt passes him, and as the runners come to the finish, you'll hear a beep as each man crosses the line. (Beeps) That's the entire finish of the race. You can open your eyes now. That first beep was Usain Bolt. That last beep was Jesse Owens. Listen to it again. (Beeps) When you think of it like that, it's not that big a difference, is it? And then consider that Usain Bolt started by propelling himself out of blocks down a specially fabricated carpet designed to allow him to travel as fast as humanly possible. Jesse Owens, on the other hand, ran on cinders, the ash from burnt wood, and that soft surface stole far more energy from his legs as he ran. Rather than blocks, Jesse Owens had a gardening trowel that he had to use to dig holes in the cinders to start from. Biomechanical analysis of the speed of Owens' joints shows that had been running on the same surface as Bolt, he wouldn't have been 14 feet behind, he would have been within one stride. Rather than the last beep, Owens would have been the second beep. Listen to it again. (Beeps) That's the difference track surface technology has made, and it's done it throughout the running world.
1936. godine, Jesse Owens je držao svjetski rekord na 100 metara. U slučaju da se Jesse Owens natjecao prošle godine na svjetskom natjecanju na 100 metara, u trenutku kad je jamajkanski sprinter Usain Bolt stigao na cilj, Owensu bi ostalo još 5 m do cilja. To je zaista mnogo u sprinterskom svijetu. Kako bih vam predočio koliko je to zapravo, želio bih s vama podijeliti jednu demonstraciju koju je osmislio sportski znanstvenik Ross Tucker. Zamislite stadion tijekom prošle godine za vrijeme svjetskog prvenstva na 100 metara: tisuće fanova bez daha čekaju kako bi vidjeli Usaina Bolta, najbržeg čovjeka svih vremena; bljeskalice bljeskaju dok se devet najbržih ljudi na svijetu spušta na startne blokove. I želim da zamislite da je Jesse Owens u toj utrci. Sada zatvorite oči na trenutak i zamislite utrku. Bang! Pištolj opali. Američki sprinter odmah iskoči i preuzima vodstvo. Usain Bolt ga počinje sustizati. Usain Bolt ga prelazi i dok se trkači približavaju cilju čut ćete beep svaki put kad trkač pređe ciljnu liniju. (Beep) To je kraj utrke. Sada možete otvoriti oči. Prvi beep je bio Usain Bolt. Zadnji beep je bio Jesse Owens. Poslušajte ponovno. (Beep) Kada čujete ovo, to i nije velika razlika, zar ne? I tada uzmite u obzir da je Usain Bolt započeo utrku odgurujući se iz startnih blokova na posebno napravljenoj stazi koja je dizajnirana da mu omogući da trči najbrže što je ljudski moguće. S druge strane, Jesse Owens je trčao po ugarcima, pepelu izgorjelog drva, i takva mekana površina je sigurno krala mnogo više energije njegovim nogama dok je trčao. Umjesto startnih blokova Jesse Owens je imao vrtnu lopatu koju je koristio kako bi iskopao rupe u pepelu iz kojih je startao. Biomehanička analiza brzine Owensovih zglobova pokazuje da u slučaju da je trčao po istoj površini kao i Bolt, on ne bi zaostao 5 metara, već bi bio u dometu jednog koraka. Owens ne bio bio zadnji beep, već bi bio drugi beep. Poslušajte ponovno. (Beep) To je napredak koji je postignut zahvaljujući razvitku tehnologije staza, a zahvatio je cijeli trkaći svijet.
Consider a longer event. In 1954, Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to run under four minutes in the mile. Nowadays, college kids do that every year. On rare occasions, a high school kid does it. As of the end of last year, 1,314 men had run under four minutes in the mile, but like Jesse Owens, Sir Roger Bannister ran on soft cinders that stole far more energy from his legs than the synthetic tracks of today. So I consulted biomechanics experts to find out how much slower it is to run on cinders than synthetic tracks, and their consensus that it's one and a half percent slower. So if you apply a one and a half percent slowdown conversion to every man who ran his sub-four mile on a synthetic track, this is what happens. Only 530 are left. If you look at it from that perspective, fewer than ten new men per [year] have joined the sub-four mile club since Sir Roger Bannister. Now, 530 is a lot more than one, and that's partly because there are many more people training today and they're training more intelligently. Even college kids are professional in their training compared to Sir Roger Bannister, who trained for 45 minutes at a time while he ditched gynecology lectures in med school. And that guy who won the 1904 Olympic marathon in three in a half hours, that guy was drinking rat poison and brandy while he ran along the course. That was his idea of a performance-enhancing drug. (Laughter)
Uzmite u obzir neku dužu utrku. 1954. godine Sir Roger Bannister je postao prvi čovjek koji je istrčao milju ispod četiri minute. Danas studenti to čine svake godine. Rjeđe to napravi i poneki srednjoškolac. Do kraja prošle godine, 1,314 ljudi je istrčalo milju ispod 4 minute, ali kao i Jesse Owens, i sir Roger Bannister je trčao na mekanom pepelu koji je krao mnogo više energije njegovim nogama nego što to danas čine sintetičke staze. Stoga sam se posavjetovao sa stručnjacima iz područja biomehanike kako bih saznao koliko se sporije trči na pepelu u usporedbi sa sintetičkim stazama, i oni konzesusno tvrde da je takvo trčanje sporije za 1,5 posto. Pa ako primjenite ovakvu transformaciju i usporite za 1,5 posto svakog čovjeka koji je istrčao milju ispod 4 minute na sintetičkoj stazi dogodi se ovo. Ostane ih samo 530. Ako to pogledate iz ovog kuta, manje od 10 ljudi godišnje istrčalo je milju ispod 4 minute od vremena sira Rogera Bannistera. Sada, 530 je mnogo više od jednoga, i to je djelomično tako jer više ljudi trenira i to inteligentno trenira. Čak su i studenti vrlo profesionalni u svojim treninzima u usporedbi sa sir Rogerom Bannisterom koji je trenirao po 45 minuta kad bi kidnuo sa predavanja ginekologije dok je pohađao medicinu. A tip koji je osvojio olimpijski maraton 1904. godine u tri i pol sata, on je pio mišomor i brandy tijekom puta koji je trčao. To je bila njegova ideja droge za poboljšanje izvedbe. (Smijeh)
Clearly, athletes have gotten more savvy about performance-enhancing drugs as well, and that's made a difference in some sports at some times, but technology has made a difference in all sports, from faster skis to lighter shoes. Take a look at the record for the 100-meter freestyle swim. The record is always trending downward, but it's punctuated by these steep cliffs. This first cliff, in 1956, is the introduction of the flip turn. Rather than stopping and turning around, athletes could somersault under the water and get going right away in the opposite direction. This second cliff, the introduction of gutters on the side of the pool that allows water to splash off, rather than becoming turbulence that impedes the swimmers as they race. This final cliff, the introduction of full-body and low-friction swimsuits.
Očito je da su sportaši također postali mnogo mudriji po pitanju droga za poboljšanje izvedbe, i to je također uvelike utjecalo na neke sportove, ali tehnologija je učinila veliku razliku na području svih sportova, od bržih skija do lakše obuće. Pogledajte rekord u plivanju slobodnim stilom na 100 metara. Ovaj rekord uvijek ima silaznu putanju, ali je obilježen ovim strmim padovima. Prvi pad, 1956. godine, predstavlja uvođenje salto okreta. Umjesto da stanu i okrenu se, sportaši su mogli napraviti kolut pod vodom i odmah krenuti u suprotnom smjeru. Drugi pad, uvođenje žlijebova uz bazen koji su omogućavali da se voda rasprši umjesto da se pretvori u otpor koji predstavlja prepreku plivačima dok se utrkuju. Ovaj posljednji pad, uvođenje plivaćih odijela koja smanjuju otpor vode.
Throughout sports, technology has changed the face of performance. In 1972, Eddy Merckx set the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour at 30 miles, 3,774 feet. Now that record improved and improved as bicycles improved and became more aerodynamic all the way until 1996, when it was set at 35 miles, 1,531 feet, nearly five miles farther than Eddy Merckx cycled in 1972. But then in 2000, the International Cycling Union decreed that anyone who wanted to hold that record had to do so with essentially the same equipment that Eddy Merckx used in 1972. Where does the record stand today? 30 miles, 4,657 feet, a grand total of 883 feet farther than Eddy Merckx cycled more than four decades ago. Essentially the entire improvement in this record was due to technology.
Tehnologija je potpuno izmijenila lice izvedbe u svim sportovima. 1972. godine Eddy Merckx je postavio rekord za najveću udaljenost pređenu biciklom za sat vremena na 49 km i 431m. Taj se rekord poboljšavao i poboljšavao kako su se i bicikli poboljšavali i postajali aerodinamičniji sve do 1996. godine kad je rekord postavljen na 53 km i 40 m, skoro 4 km pređenih više od onoga što je Eddy Merckx odvozio 1972. godine. Ali tada Međunarodna biciklistička unija je 2000. godine objavila da svatko tko želi držati taj rekord to mora napraviti zapravo sa tipom opreme kakvu je Eddy Merckx koristio 1972. godine, Kako danas stoji taj rekord? 49 km i 700m, ukupno 270 m više od onoga što je Eddy Merckx odvozio prije više od četiri desetljeća. U biti svo poboljšanje ovog rekorda se dogodilo zahvaljujući tehnologiji.
Still, technology isn't the only thing pushing athletes forward. While indeed we haven't evolved into a new species in a century, the gene pool within competitive sports most certainly has changed. In the early half of the 20th century, physical education instructors and coaches had the idea that the average body type was the best for all athletic endeavors: medium height, medium weight, no matter the sport. And this showed in athletes' bodies. In the 1920s, the average elite high-jumper and average elite shot-putter were the same exact size. But as that idea started to fade away, as sports scientists and coaches realized that rather than the average body type, you want highly specialized bodies that fit into certain athletic niches, a form of artificial selection took place, a self-sorting for bodies that fit certain sports, and athletes' bodies became more different from one another. Today, rather than the same size as the average elite high jumper, the average elite shot-putter is two and a half inches taller and 130 pounds heavier. And this happened throughout the sports world.
Ipak, nije tehnologija jedina stvar koja gura sportaše naprijed. Iako zaista nismo evoluirali u novu vrstu u samo sto godina, genetski bazen u natjecateljskim sportovima se nesumnjivo promijenio. U prvoj polovici 20. stoljeća profesori tjelesnog kao i treneri su smatrali da jedan prosječan tip tijela najprikladniji za sve sportske napore: srednja visina, srednja težina, bez obzira o kojem se sportu radi. I to se vidjelo na tijelima sportaša. 20-ih godina 20. stoljeća, prosječni skakač u vis kao i prosječni bacač kugle su bili iste veličine. Kako je ovakva ideja počela blijedjeti, i kako su sportski znanstvenici i treneri shvatili da umjesto prosječnog tipa tijela, trebaju usko specijaliziran tip tijela koja pristaju u određena sportska područja, počelo se provoditi umjetno biranje, samo- razvrstavanje tijela koja odgovaraju određenim sportovima i tijela sportaša su se počela razlikovati jedno od drugoga. Danas imamo slučaj da prosječni skakač u vis nije iste veličine i kao prosječni bacač kugle već je potonji 6,4 cm viši i 65 kg teži. Ovo je odjeknulo diljem sportskog svijeta.
In fact, if you plot on a height versus mass graph one data point for each of two dozen sports in the first half of the 20th century, it looks like this. There's some dispersal, but it's kind of grouped around that average body type. Then that idea started to go away, and at the same time, digital technology -- first radio, then television and the Internet -- gave millions, or in some cases billions, of people a ticket to consume elite sports performance. The financial incentives and fame and glory afforded elite athletes skyrocketed, and it tipped toward the tiny upper echelon of performance. It accelerated the artificial selection for specialized bodies. And if you plot a data point for these same two dozen sports today, it looks like this. The athletes' bodies have gotten much more different from one another. And because this chart looks like the charts that show the expanding universe, with the galaxies flying away from one another, the scientists who discovered it call it "The Big Bang of Body Types."
Ustvari, ako postavite na grafu koji sadržava omjer visine i mase jednu podatkovnu točku za svaki od dvadesetak sportova tijekom prve polovice 20. stoljeća, on bi izgledao ovako. Tu vidmo jednu određenu raspršenost, ali je sve okupljeno oko tog prosječnog tipa tijela. Tada se ta ideja počela zaboravljati a istovremeno je digitalna tehnologija -- prvo radio pa televizija i Internet-- dala milijunima, pa u nekim slučajevima i milijardama, ljudi priliku da postanu konzumenti elitnog sporta. Novčani poticaji i slava omogućili su eksploziju elitnih sportaša, i omogućila je prevrtanje prema gornjem rangu izvedbe. Ubrzali su umjetno biranje specijaliziranih tijela. I ako stavite točku za ovih istih dvadesetak sportova danas, ona bi izgledala ovako. Tijela sportaša su postala mnogo drugačija jedna od drugih. I upravo stoga što ovaj grafikon izgleda kao grafikon koji pokazuje rastući svemir sa galaksijama koje lete jedna od druge znanstvenici koji su otkrili ovo zovu ovaj fenomen "Veliki prasak tipologije tijela."
In sports where height is prized, like basketball, the tall athletes got taller. In 1983, the National Basketball Association signed a groundbreaking agreement making players partners in the league, entitled to shares of ticket revenues and television contracts. Suddenly, anybody who could be an NBA player wanted to be, and teams started scouring the globe for the bodies that could help them win championships. Almost overnight, the proportion of men in the NBA who are at least seven feet tall doubled to 10 percent. Today, one in 10 men in the NBA is at least seven feet tall, but a seven-foot-tall man is incredibly rare in the general population -- so rare that if you know an American man between the ages of 20 and 40 who is at least seven feet tall, there's a 17 percent chance he's in the NBA right now. (Laughter) That is, find six honest seven footers, one is in the NBA right now. And that's not the only way that NBA players' bodies are unique. This is Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," the ideal proportions, with arm span equal to height. My arm span is exactly equal to my height. Yours is probably very nearly so. But not the average NBA player. The average NBA player is a shade under 6'7", with arms that are seven feet long. Not only are NBA players ridiculously tall, they are ludicrously long. Had Leonardo wanted to draw the Vitruvian NBA Player, he would have needed a rectangle and an ellipse, not a circle and a square.
U sportovima gdje je na cijeni visina, poput košarke, visoki sportaši su postali još viši. 1983. godine Nacionalna košarkaška asocijacija (NBA) je potpisala revolucionarni sporazum kojim je igrače učinila svojim partnerima u ligi s pravom na udio od zarade na prodaji ulaznica i televizijskih ugovora. Iznenada, svatko tko je mogao biti NBA igrač, to je i želio biti, i ekipe su počele pretraživati kuglu zemaljsku kako bi našli tijela koja bi im mogla pomoći osvojiti prvenstvo. Skoro preko noći razmjer ljudi u NBA-u koji su bili visoki najmanje 2,1 metar se povećala do 10 posto. Danas, jedan od 10 ljudi u NBA je najmanje 2,1 metar visok, ali ljudi koji su visoki 2,1 metar su izuzetno rijetki u široj populaciji -- toliko rijetki da u slučaju da znate Amerikanca koji ima između 20 i 40 godina i koji je visok najmanje 2,1 metar, postoji 17 postotna šansa da on igra u NBA-u sada. (Smijeh) To jest, nađite šest poštenih dvometraša, jedan je sigurno u NBA-u sada. I to nije jedino po čemu su tijela NBA igrača jedinstvena. Ovo je 'Vitruvijev čovjek' Leonarda da Vincija, idealnih proporcija koji ima raspon ruku jednak svojoj visini. Raspon mojih ruku je jednak mojoj visini. Vaš raspon je vjerojatno također tu negdje. Ali ne u slučaju prosječnog NBA igrača. Prosječan NBA igrač ima malo ispod 2 m s rasponom ruku od 2,1 m. ne samo da su NBA igrači izuzetno visoki, već su i izuzetno dugi. Da je Leonardo htio nacrtati Vitruvijevog NBA igrača, trebao bi pravokutnik i elipsu a ne krug i kvadrat.
So in sports where large size is prized, the large athletes have gotten larger. Conversely, in sports where diminutive stature is an advantage, the small athletes got smaller. The average elite female gymnast shrunk from 5'3" to 4'9" on average over the last 30 years, all the better for their power-to-weight ratio and for spinning in the air. And while the large got larger and the small got smaller, the weird got weirder. The average length of the forearm of a water polo player in relation to their total arm got longer, all the better for a forceful throwing whip. And as the large got larger, small got smaller, and the weird weirder. In swimming, the ideal body type is a long torso and short legs. It's like the long hull of a canoe for speed over the water. And the opposite is advantageous in running. You want long legs and a short torso. And this shows in athletes' bodies today. Here you see Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer in history, standing next to Hicham El Guerrouj, the world record holder in the mile. These men are seven inches different in height, but because of the body types advantaged in their sports, they wear the same length pants. Seven inches difference in height, these men have the same length legs.
Tako da u sportovima u kojima se cijeni veća veličina veliki sportaši su postali još veći. s druge strane, u sportovima u kojima je sitan stas prednost, mali sportaši su postali još manji. Prosječna gimnastičarka se smanjila s 1,60 m na 1,45 m u prosjeku u posljednjih 30 godina, u korist omjera njihove snage i težine i okretanja u zraku. I dok su veliki postajali veći, mali su postajali manji, čudni su postajali još čudniji. Prosječna dužina podlaktice jednog vaterpolista je postala duža u usporedbi sa dužinom cijele ruke, što je odlično za snažan izbačaj u bacanju. I dok su veliki postajali veći mali su postajali manji, a čudni čudniji. Idealan tip tijela u plivanju čini dugi torzo i kratke noge. Slično dugom čamcu kanua kako bi se postigla brzina na vodi. A upravo suprotno je prednost u trčanju. Želite duge noge i kratki torzo. I to se vidi u tijelima sportaša danas. Ovdje vidite Michaela Phelpsa, najboljeg plivača u povijesti, kako stoji pokraj Hichama El Guerrouja, svjetskog rekordera u utrci na milju. Razlika u visini ova dva čovjeka je 18 cm ali upravo zbog tipa tijela koji čini prednost u njihovom sportu oni nose hlače iste dužine. 18 cm razlike u visini, a ova dva čovjeka nose hlače iste dužine.
Now in some cases, the search for bodies that could push athletic performance forward ended up introducing into the competitive world populations of people that weren't previously competing at all, like Kenyan distance runners. We think of Kenyans as being great marathoners. Kenyans think of the Kalenjin tribe as being great marathoners. The Kalenjin make up just 12 percent of the Kenyan population but the vast majority of elite runners. And they happen, on average, to have a certain unique physiology: legs that are very long and very thin at their extremity, and this is because they have their ancestry at very low latitude in a very hot and dry climate, and an evolutionary adaptation to that is limbs that are very long and very thin at the extremity for cooling purposes. It's the same reason that a radiator has long coils, to increase surface area compared to volume to let heat out, and because the leg is like a pendulum, the longer and thinner it is at the extremity, the more energy-efficient it is to swing. To put Kalenjin running success in perspective, consider that 17 American men in history have run faster than two hours and 10 minutes in the marathon. That's a four-minute-and-58-second-per-mile pace. Thirty-two Kalenjin men did that last October. (Laughter) That's from a source population the size of metropolitan Atlanta.
U nekim slučajevima je potraga za tijelima koja su mogla unaprijediti sportsku izvedbu dovela do ulaska u natjecateljski svijet populacije ljudi koja se prethodno uopće nije natjecala, kao kenijske trkače na velike udaljenosti. Smatramo Kenijce odličnim maratoncima. Kenijci smatraju pleme Kalenjin odličnim maratoncima. Kalenjin čini 12 posto Kenijske populacije ali veliku većinu elitnih trkača. I događa se da oni, u prosjeku, imaju određenu jedinstvenu fiziologiju: noge koje su vrlo duge i tanke na ekstremitetima, i to je zato što imaju pretke na niskoj širini u vrlo vrućoj i suhoj klimi, i evolucijska adaptacija tome je da su im udovi vrlo dugi i vrlo tanki na ekstremitetima da se rashlade. Isti razlog je zašto radijator ima duge zavojnice, da bi povećao površinu u usporedbi s volumenom kako bi pustio toplinu van, i jer je noga kao visak, što je dulja i tanja na ekstremitetu, to je energetski učinkovitije zamahivati njom. Da stavimo trkački uspjeh Kalenjina u perspektivu, zamislite da 17 Amerikanaca u povijesti trče brže od dva sata i 10 minuta u maratonu. To je tempo od četiri minute i 58 sekundi po milji. Trideset i dva Kalenjin muškarca učinila su to prošlog listopada. (Smijeh) To je iz populacije veličine gradskog područja Atlante.
Still, even changing technology and the changing gene pool in sports don't account for all of the changes in performance. Athletes have a different mindset than they once did. Have you ever seen in a movie when someone gets an electrical shock and they're thrown across a room? There's no explosion there. What's happening when that happens is that the electrical impulse is causing all their muscle fibers to twitch at once, and they're throwing themselves across the room. They're essentially jumping. That's the power that's contained in the human body. But normally we can't access nearly all of it. Our brain acts as a limiter, preventing us from accessing all of our physical resources, because we might hurt ourselves, tearing tendons or ligaments. But the more we learn about how that limiter functions, the more we learn how we can push it back just a bit, in some cases by convincing the brain that the body won't be in mortal danger by pushing harder. Endurance and ultra-endurance sports serve as a great example. Ultra-endurance was once thought to be harmful to human health, but now we realize that we have all these traits that are perfect for ultra-endurance: no body fur and a glut of sweat glands that keep us cool while running; narrow waists and long legs compared to our frames; large surface area of joints for shock absorption. We have an arch in our foot that acts like a spring, short toes that are better for pushing off than for grasping tree limbs, and when we run, we can turn our torso and our shoulders like this while keeping our heads straight. Our primate cousins can't do that. They have to run like this. And we have big old butt muscles that keep us upright while running. Have you ever looked at an ape's butt? They have no buns because they don't run upright. And as athletes have realized that we're perfectly suited for ultra-endurance, they've taken on feats that would have been unthinkable before, athletes like Spanish endurance racer Kílian Jornet. Here's Kílian running up the Matterhorn. (Laughter) With a sweatshirt there tied around his waist. It's so steep he can't even run here. He's pulling up on a rope. This is a vertical ascent of more than 8,000 feet, and Kílian went up and down in under three hours. Amazing. And talented though he is, Kílian is not a physiological freak. Now that he has done this, other athletes will follow, just as other athletes followed after Sir Roger Bannister ran under four minutes in the mile.
No ipak, promjene u tehnologiji i promjena genetskog bazena u sportu nisu izvor svih promjena u performansama. Sportaši imaju drugačiji način razmišljanja nego prije. Jeste ikad vidjeli u filmu da nekog udari struja i baci ih preko sobe? Tu nema eksplozije. Ono što se tada događa je da električni impuls čini da se sva mišićna vlakna trznu odjednom, i bacaju se preko sobe. Oni u osnovi skaču. To je snaga koja je sadržana u ljudskom tijelu. Ali normalno ne možemo svemu tome pristupiti. Naš mozak radi kao limitator, sprječavajući nas da pristupimo svim našim fizičkim resursima, jer se možemo ozlijediti, kidajući tetive ili ligamente. Ali što više učimo kako taj limitator funkcionira, više učimo kako ga potisnuti barem malo, u nekim slučajevima uvjeravajući mozak da tijelo neće biti u smrtnoj opasnosti ako guramo jače. Sportovi izdržljivosti i ultra izdržljivosti služe kao odličan primjer. Ultra izdržljivost se nekad smatrala štetnom za ljudsko zdravlje, ali sada shvaćamo da imamo sve te osobine koje su savršene za ultra izdržljivost: nemamo krzna i mnoštvo znojnih žlijezda koje nas hlade dok trčimo: uzak struk i duge noge u usporedbi s našim okvirima; velike površine zglobova za apsorpciju udara. Imamo luk u stopalu koji se ponaša kao opruga, kratki nožni prsti, bolji za odgurivanje nego za hvatanje grana, i kada trčimo, možemo okrenuti torzo i naša ramena ovako, dok nam je glava ravno. Naši rođaci primati ne mogu to. Moraju trčati ovako. I imamo te velike mišiće stražnjice koje nas drže uspravnima dok trčimo. Jeste li ikad vidjeli primatovu stražnjicu? Nemaju guzove jer ne trče uspravno. I kako su sportaši shvatili da smo savršeno prilagođeni za ultra izdržljivost učinili su podvige koji bi inače bili nezamislivi, sportaši kao španjolski trkač Kilian Jornet. Evo Kiliana kako trči na Matterhornu. (Smijeh) Sa majicom svezanom oko struka. Tako je strmo da ne može ni trčati tu. Povlači se na užetu. Ovo je vertikalni uspon duži od 2500 metara, i Kilian se popeo gore i spustio u manje od tri sata. Zadivljujuće. I iako je bio talentiran, Kilian nije fiziološka nakaza. Sad kada je to učinio, drugi sportaši će ga slijediti, kao što su drugi sportaši slijedili Sir Rogera Bannistera nakon što je otrčao milju za manje od 4 minute.
Changing technology, changing genes, and a changing mindset. Innovation in sports, whether that's new track surfaces or new swimming techniques, the democratization of sport, the spread to new bodies and to new populations around the world, and imagination in sport, an understanding of what the human body is truly capable of, have conspired to make athletes stronger, faster, bolder, and better than ever.
Mjenjajući tehnologiju, mjenjajući gene, i mjenjajući način razmišljanja. Inovacija u sportu, bilo da je to nova površina za trčanje ili nove tehnike plivanja, demokratizacija sporta, širenje na nova tijela i nove populacije širom svijeta, i mašta u sportu, razumijevanje što ljudsko tijelo zaista može, urotile su se da sportaši postanu snažniji, brži, hrabriji, i bolji nego ikad.
Thank you very much.
Hvala vam puno.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)