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.
Moto Olimpijskih igara glasi ,,Citius, Altius, Fortius." Brže, više, jače. A sportisti su to prilično brzo ostvarili. Pobednik olimpijskog maratona 2012. godine je postigao vreme od dva sata i osam minuta. Da se nekim slučajem takmičio protiv pobednika olimpijskog maratona 1904. godine, pobedio bi sa razlikom od skoro sat i po vremena. Svima nam se čini da postajemo sve bolji i bolji, da čovečanstvo nezadrživo napreduje, ali sigurno nismo postali sasvim nova vrsta za sto godina. Šta se onda dešava? Želeo bih da ispitam šta je zapravo razlog tako brzog napretka u sportu.
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, Džesi Ovens je držao svetski rekord u trci na 100 metara. Da je Džesi Ovens učestvovao na prošlogodišnjem svetskom šampionatu u trci na 100 metara, u trenutku kad Jamajčanin Jusejn Bolt prelazi cilj, Ovensu bi ostalo još nešto više od 4 metra. Za sprintere je to mnogo. Da bi vam bilo jasnije kolika je to zapravo razlika želim da vam pokažem nešto što je osmislio stručnjak za nauku sporta, Ros Taker. Zamislite stadion prošle godine za vreme svetskog šampionata na 100 metara: hiljade fanova nestrpljivo čekaju da vide Jusejna Bolta, najbržeg čoveka ikada; blicevi sevaju dok se devet najbržih ljudi na svetu namešta na startnim pozicijama. I želim da zamislite da i Džesi Ovens učestvuje u toj trci. Sad zažmurite na momenat i zamislite tu trku. Beng! Startni pištolj je opalio. Američki sprinter izleće na čelo. Jusejn počinje da ga sustiže. On ga i prestiže, i kako trkači prilaze cilju, čuje se pištanje svaki put kad neki pređe finiš. (Pištanje) To je ceo kraj trke. Sad otvorite oči. Taj prvi zvuk je Jusejn Bolt. Poslednji je Džesi Ovens. Poslušajte ponovo. (Pištanje) Kad se pogleda na taj način, i nije neka razlika, zar ne? Ali uzmite u obzir da je Jusejn Bolt započeo trku tako što je izleteo iz startnog bloka, a zatim trčao po specijalnoj podlozi osmišljenoj tako da mu omogući da trči što je brže moguće. Sa druge strane, Džesi Ovens je trčao po ugljevlju, pepelu od izgorelog drveta, i ta meka površina je upijala mnogo više energije koju su stvarale njegove noge dok je trčao. Umesto startnog bloka, Džesi Ovens je imao lopaticu kojom je kopao rupe u ugljevlju. Biomehanička analiza brzine Ovensovih zglobova pokazuje da, kad bi trčao po istoj površini kao Bolt, razlika između njih ne bi bila veća od 4 metra već bi bili na korak jedan od drugog. Umesto poslednjeg zvuka, Ovens bi bio drugi. Poslušajte ponovo. (Pištanje) Toliku je razliku stvorila tehnologija podloge i to važi za sve druge trkačke discipline.
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)
Pogledajmo neku dužu trku. 1954. godine, Ser Rodžer Banister je postao prvi koji je pretrčao 1.600 m za manje od 4 minuta. U današnje vreme, studenti to uspevaju svake godine. Ponekad i srednjoškolci. Od kraja prošle godine, 1.314 ljudi je pretrčalo 1.600 m za manje od 4 minuta, ali kao i u slučaju Džesija Ovensa, Ser Rodžer Banister je trčao po mekom ugljevlju koje je upijalo više energije nego današnje sintetičke podloge. Raspitao sam se kod stručnjaka za biomehaniku kako bih saznao koliko je sporije trčanje po ugljevlju u odnosu na sintetičku podlogu i složili su se da razlika iznosi 1,5%. Ako se ovo usporenje od 1,5% primeni na svakog muškarca koji je istrčao 1.600 m za manje od 4 minuta na sintetičkoj podlozi, dobije se sledeće: ostane ih samo 530. Ako uzmemo to u obzir, vidimo da je manje od deset ljudi godišnje prvi put uspelo da istrči 1.600 m za manje od 4 minuta od kad je to uspeo Ser Rodžer Banister. 530 je svakako mnogo više od jednog čoveka i to je delom posledica toga što u današnje vreme mnogo više ljudi trenira i to rade mnogo pametnije. Čak i studenti treniraju na profesionalnom nivou u odnosu na Ser Rodžera Banistera koji je trenirao po 45 minuta dok je bežao sa časova ginekologije u medicinskoj školi. A tip koji je pobedio u olimpijskom maratonu 1904. sa vremenom od tri i po sata, on je pio rakiju sa mišomorom dok je trčao. To je za njega bio doping. (Smeh)
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 sportisti shvatili kako da pametnije koriste doping, i to je povremeno uticalo na određene sportove, ali tehnologija je imala uticaj na sve sportove, od bržih skija do lakših patika. Pogledajmo rekord u plivanju na 100 m slobodnim stilom. Prolazno vreme se stalno smanjuje, ali u određenim trenucima dolazi do naglih padova. Prvi ovakav pad desio se 1956. godine nakon uvođenja zaokreta. Plivači su mogli da naprave salto pod vodom i da odmah krenu natrag, umesto da staju da bi se okrenuli. Do drugog pada je došlo nakon uvođenja slivnika na ivicama bazena, zbog kojih je voda mogla da se preliva umesto da se uskomeša i time ometa plivače. Poslednji pad je pri uvođenju kupaćih kostima koji prekrivaju celo telo i smanjuju trenje. Tehnologija je uticala na učinak tokom čitave istorije sporta.
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.
Edi Merks je 1972. godine prešao rekordnu razdaljinu biciklom za sat vremena: 49.430 metara. Kako su bicikli postajali sve bolji i aerodinamičniji, tako se pomerao i rekord, sve dok 1996. nije iznosio 56.793 metara, skoro 7,5 km više nego što je Edi Merks prešao 1972. godine. Međutim, 2000. godine je Međunarodni Biciklistički Savez propisao da svako ko želi da obori rekord mora to da postigne koristeći istu opremu kao Edi Merks 1972. Koliko trenutno iznosi rekord? 49.699 metara, ukupno 269 metara više nego što je Edi Merks prešao pre više od 40 godina. U suštini, pomeranje ovog rekorda je u potpunosti zavisilo od tehnologije. Tehnologija ipak nije jedina stvar koja pomaže sportistima.
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.
Iako se u poslednjih 100 godina nismo pretvorili u novu vrstu, sigurno je da se genetski fond u svetu profesionalnog sporta promenio. Treneri i nastavnici fizičkog vaspitanja su tokom prve polovine 20. veka smatrali da je prosečan oblik tela najbolje prilagođen svim disciplinama: prosečna visina i težina, bez obzira na sport. Što se i videlo po telima sportista. Tkom 1920-ih, vrhunski skakač u vis i vrhunski bacač kugle bi bili istih dimenzija. Ali i ta ideja je počela da gubi maha jer su stručnjaci za sport shvatili da im umesto prosečnog oblika tela trebaju sportisti vrlo specifične građe, da bi se što bolje uklopili u određene sportove. Tako je započela određena veštačka selekcija, razvrstavanje tela po odgovarajućim sportovima, i građa sportista je počela sve više da se razlikuje. U današnje vreme, umesto da bude iste građe kao prosečan skakač u vis, prosečan bacač kugle je oko 6,5 cm viši i oko 60 kg teži. Ovo se desilo i u svim drugim sportovima.
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 na grafiku prikažete odnos mase i visine za svaki od 24 sporta za vreme prve polovine 20. veka, to izgleda ovako. Postoje određeni izuzeci, ali tačke se uglavnom grupišu oko prosečne građe. Zatim je ta ideja počela da nestaje, a istovremeno i digitalna tehnologija - prvo radio, a zatim televizija i internet - milionima, pa čak i milijardama ljudi omogućila da prate vrhunski sport. Novčane nagrade i slava su rasli vrtoglavo za profesionalne sportiste, što je do najvećeg izražaja dovelo sportiste sa vrhunskim učinkom. Ovo je dodatno ubrzalo odabir specifičnih građa tela. Ako na grafiku prikažete ona ista 24 sporta u današnje vreme, rezultat izgleda ovako. Tela sportista se znatno razlikuju. S obzirom da ovaj grafik podseća na grafike koji prikazuju širenje univerzuma i međusobno udaljavanje galaksija, naučnici koji su otkrili ovu pojavu, nazivaju je ,,Veliki prasak telesne građe''.
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 poput košarke, gde je važna visina, sportisti su postali viši. 1983. godine, NBA je donela na snagu revolucionarni dogovor, po kom bi igrači postali partneri unutar lige, čime su dobili deo novca od ulaznica i ugovora za TV emitovanje utakmica. Od tog trenutka, svi koji su to mogli želeli su da igraju za NBA i timovi su širom sveta tražili igrače koji bi im pomogli da osvajaju titule. Skoro preko noći se udeo NBA igrača viših od 210 cm udvostručio na 10% Danas je jedan od 10 NBA igrača viši od 210 cm, ali takve ljude je veoma teško pronaći - toliko su retki da, ako poznajete Amerikanca starosti od 20 do 40 godina koji je viši od 210 cm, postoji 17% šanse da trenutno igra u NBA. (Smeh) Što znači da jedan od šest ljudi viših od 210 cm trenutno igra u NBA. A to nije jedina specifičnost građe NBA igrača. Ovo je ,,Vitruvijanski čovek'' Leonarda da Vinčija, koji prikazuje idealne razmere tela, gde je raspon ruku jednak visini. Raspon mojih ruku je tačno jednak mojoj visini. Kod vas je verovatno skoro pa isto. Ali kod prosečnog NBA igrača nije tako. Prosečni NBA igrač je tek nešto niži od dva metra i ima raspon ruku od 210 cm. Znači da NBA igrači nisu samo izuzetno visoki, već su i neverovatno krakati. Kad bi Leonardo hteo da nacrta vitruvijanskog NBA igrača, morao bi da koristi pravougaonik i elipsu umesto kvadrata i kruga.
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.
Dakle, u sportovima gde se traži veličina, sportisti su postajali sve veći. Nasuprot tome, u sportovima gde prednost ima manja veličina, sportisti su postajali manji. Prosečna visina vrhunskih gimnastičarki u poslednjih 30 godina smanjila se sa 160 na 143 cm, što im je povećalo odnos snage i veličine i omogućilo da se lakše vrte u vazduhu. I kako su veliki postajali veći, a mali manji, neobični su postajali neobičniji. Dužina podlaktice kod vaterpolista se povećala u odnosu na ukupnu dužinu ruke, što je pojačalo snagu šuteva. I tako su veliki postajali veći, mali manji, a neobični neobičniji. Idealnom građom za plivanje se smatra duži torzo i kraće noge, po ugledu na korito kanua, koje mu daje brzinu na vodi. Kod trčanja je obrnuto. Traže se duže noge i kraći torzo. Ova razlika se vidi i u građi sportista. Na slici je Majkl Felps, najbolji plivač sveta, koji stoji pored Hišama El Garuža, rekordera na 1.600 metara. Razlika u visini između njih dvojice je skoro 18 cm, ali zbog razlike u građi vezane za sport kojim se bave, nose istu veličinu pantalona. 18 cm razlike u visini, a imaju istu dužinu nogu.
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 određenim slučajevima je potraga za građom koja bi pomerila granice sporta u takmičenje uvela grupe koje se ranije uopšte nisu takmičile, na primer, kenijske trkače. Za Kenijce važi da su odlični maratonci. Kenijci to isto smatraju za pripadnike plemena Kelendžin. Kelendžini čine svega 12% populacije Kenije, ali ih ima najviše među maratoncima. Uz to, prosečna fiziologija im je jedinstvena: veoma duge noge koje su veoma uske na krajevima, što je posledica toga što vuku korene iz predela male geografske širine, gde je klima veoma topla i suva. Evolucijom su se na ovo adaptirali razvijanjem dugih udova koji su uski na krajevima kako bi se lakše hladili. Iz istog tog razloga hladnjaci imaju duge spirale, kako bi se povećala površina u odnosu na zapreminu da bi se toplota lakše ispuštala. A pošto je noga poput klatna, što je duža i uža na kraju, to manje energije treba da bi se pokrenula. Kako bismo sagledali uspeh Kalendžana treba uzeti u obzir da je do sada svega 17 Amerikanaca pretrčalo maraton za manje od 2 sata i 10 minuta. To je 4 minuta i 58 sekundi na 1.600 metara. Prošlog oktobra su ovo postigla 32 Kelendžina. (Smeh) Svi oni potiču iz populacije veličine Atlante sa prigradskim naseljima.
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.
Ipak, nisu samo napredak tehnologije i promene u genetskom fondu sportista odgovorni za bolji učinak. Sportisti i razmišljaju drugačije nego ranije. Jeste li videli kad na filmu nekog udari struja, pa zbog toga poleti na drugi kraj sobe? Tu nema nikakve eksplozije. Dešava se to da elektrošok tera sva mišićna vlakna da se zgrče istovremeno, tako da se čovek sam baci. U suštini skače. Takva se snaga nalazi u ljudskom telu. Ali u normalnim okolnostima ne možemo da joj pristupimo. Mozak nas ograničava i ne da nam da iskoristimo sve svoje fizičke mogućnosti kako se ne bismo povredili, oštetili tetive i ligamente. Međutim, što bolje razumemo kako ovo ograničenje radi, to bolje možemo da ga zaobiđemo, makar samo malo, ponekad tako što ubedimo mozak da telo neće doći u smrtnu opasnost ako nastavimo sa naporom. Odličan primer za ovo je trčanje na duge i izuzetno duge pruge. Smatralo se da je trčanje na izuzetno duge pruge štetno po zdravlje, ali smo shvatili da su nas određene osobine odlično prilagodile za to: nemamo krzno, ali imamo brojne znojne žlezde koje nas hlade dok trčimo; uzak struk i duge noge u odnosu na ostatak tela; veliku površinu zglobova koja upija potrese. Luk stopala nam služi kao opruga, kratki prsti na nogama su bolji za odskok nego za hvatanje za grane, a dok trčimo, možemo ovako da okrećemo torzo i ramena bez pomeranja glave. Ostali primati to ne mogu. Moraju da trče ovako. Zatim imamo krupne mišiće zadnjice koji nas ispravljaju dok trčimo. Jeste li ikada obratili pažnju na zadnjice kod majmuna? Skoro da nemaju guzove jer nisu uspravni kad trče. Kad su sportisti shvatili da smo savršeno prilagođeni za duge pruge, pokušali su stvari koje su ranije bile nezamislive. Sportisti poput španskog dugoprugaša, Kiliana Džornea. Ovde Kilian trči uz Materhorn. (Smeh) Vezao je duks oko struka. Toliko je strmo da se ni ne može trčati. Penje se konopcem. U pitanju je uspon od više nego 2.400 metara, a Kilian se popeo i spustio za manje od tri sata. Neverovatno. I iako je talentovan, Kilian ipak nije medicinski fenomen. Kad je on ovo uspeo, i drugi će pokušati, kao što su pokušali kad je Ser Rodžer Banister pretrčao 1.600 metara za manje od 4 minuta.
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.
Promena tehnologija, promena u genima i promena u načinu razmišljanja. Inovacije u svetu sporta, bilo da su u pitanju nove podloge za trčanje ili nove plivačke tehnike, demokratizacija sporta, uključivanje novih građa tela, pa čak i novih populacija, i mašta u sportu, pronicanje u mogućnosti ljudskog tela, su zajedno učinili da sportisti postanu jači, brži, smeliji i bolji nego ikad ranije.
Thank you very much.
Mnogo vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)