Do The Evolution...

[TheGreatA]

soo 10 vs 9.69 im sure if carl lewis was 3 inches taller had NO2, creatine, l-glutamine, multi vitamins, and protein shakes there probly wouldnt have even been a diffrence in times.

lets look back to 1936 with jesse owens only .3 slower then lewis but 5 inches shorter 8 in shorter then bolt. Imagine if he had protein shakes, creatine, and all that stuff....probly would have been pullin 9.5's at 5'10"

Also compare the equipment and the track Owens was running on to Bolt's:





Really it's just entirely different to compare sprinting to a combat sport such as boxing.

[bojangles1987]

I wrote this post last week in reply to another argument of this sort. I think it will apply here as well.

Why is it in baseball the fields have gotten smaller, yet balls are juiced (as well as players) to go further?

Have you ever seen the evolution of tracks and foot wear and wondered why records are always being broken?

Have you ever considered that in sports such as swimming, skiing, skating, golfing and tennis the equipment has gotten much better making the athlete appear better?

Can you understand the concept of lighter equipment, steroids and better fields catering to hockey and football players?

Do you grasp that since basketballs popularity sky rocketed in the late 60's, early 70's and so on that the more people are playing it making the competition that much more dense?

Finally, boxing. Less rounds, less fights, heavier gloves, better mouth pieces, and less comp make it appear as if fighters are better today. Not to mention the poor quality of film from many past era's making fighters look inept compared to todays high definition and multiple camera angles. Wlad and Vitaly are without a doubt the best heavyweights in the world today. But if you watch film of Primo Carnera (who many disregard) they fight very similarly. Why is that?

Trust me, my examples are endless. Im not saying athletes were better then. But there were instances where they were just as there are instances of better athletes today. All in all though, there really isn't that big a difference if you look at it objectively.

Great post. Green K. If athletes back then had the advantages in medicine and equipment athletes today did, the gap wouldn't seem so big.

[wowjack18]

My top 10 Heavies



1. Joe Louis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Larry Holmes
4. George Foreman
5. Lennox Lewis
6. Mike Tyson
7. Evander Holyfield
8. Joe Frazier
9. Rocky Marciano
10. Sonny Liston

[JAB5239]

Great post. Green K. If athletes back then had the advantages in medicine and equipment athletes today did, the gap wouldn't seem so big.

Very true. I've never bought into the idea that athletes have some how magically evolved to become bigger and better. Evolution takes thousands if not millions of years. What has occurred is a huge boom in the worlds population. Many assume that people are bigger now, but I would bet that if you could conduct some kind of census that percentage wise comparing now and then, there were just as many people who were as big (naturally) then as now. Combine that with the other factors I've listed and athletes only seem better to people not smart enough to look at all the facts.

[JAB5239]

1. Joe Louis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Larry Holmes
4. George Foreman
5. Lennox Lewis
6. Mike Tyson
7. Evander Holyfield
8. Joe Frazier
9. Rocky Marciano
10. Sonny Liston

Nice list, but wrong thread my man.

[GJC]

Very true. I've never bought into the idea that athletes have some how magically evolved to become bigger and better. Evolution takes thousands if not millions of years. What has occurred is a huge boom in the worlds population. Many assume that people are bigger now, but I would bet that if you could conduct some kind of census that percentage wise comparing now and then, there were just as many people who were as big (naturally) then as now. Combine that with the other factors I've listed and athletes only seem better to people not smart enough to look at all the facts.

I sort of have two conflicting views on this. Totally agree that evolution takes many thousand/millions of years though don't profess to be an expert on Darwinism.
That said I'm bigger than my father who was bigger than his father my son is bigger than me and his son is bigger than him.
So in 100 years the height of my family so to speak has gone up 5 or 6 inches and I'm sure that we are not a rareity.
So see my quandary I know we haven't evolved in a major way but I can't dismiss what my own eyes are telling me?

[StarshipTrooper]

I sort of have two conflicting views on this. Totally agree that evolution takes many thousand/millions of years though don't profess to be an expert on Darwinism.
That said I'm bigger than my father who was bigger than his father my son is bigger than me and his son is bigger than him.
So in 100 years the height of my family so to speak has gone up 5 or 6 inches and I'm sure that we are not a rareity.
So see my quandary I know we haven't evolved in a major way but I can't dismiss what my own eyes are telling me?

Better conditions. The healthier the environment a person devolpes in the greater the likelihood they'll grow closer to their full potential. Case in point: Vaccines and medical care during the formative years. Kids of my generation didn't suffer from many of the childhood illnesses that inhibit growth. Those same illnesses were endemic when my grandparents were young. There's a lot of factors that go into it, modern medicine being just one.

Poet

[GJC]

Better conditions. The healthier the environment a person devolpes in the greater the likelihood they'll grow closer to their full potential. Case in point: Vaccines and medical care during the formative years. Kids of my generation didn't suffer from many of the childhood illnesses that inhibit growth. Those same illnesses were endemic when my grandparents were young. There's a lot of factors that go into it, modern medicine being just one.

Poet

For sure medecine and nutrition I guess.
Do think that the HW's of olden days would be bigger if they were around today, everyone else is!

[StarshipTrooper]

For sure medecine and nutrition I guess.
Do think that the HW's of olden days would be bigger if they were around today, everyone else is!

I've said it many times.....and gotten crucified for it. I guess it rather offends the worldview of some people who's ideology is predicated on THEIR generation being better in and of themselves and more highly evolved than all those generations past. They can't accept any idea that they themselves are not superior but rather the benificiaries of outside things such as technology and healty conditions in which to develope.

Poet

[StarshipTrooper]

For sure medecine and nutrition I guess.
Do think that the HW's of olden days would be bigger if they were around today, everyone else is!

Refought the Battle of River Plate earlier and got trounced grrrrr. I'll see if my luck is any better with Denmark Straight