09 February 2008

The Age of Exhaustion in world records?

Stuck records@times online

According to a study conducted at France’s biomedical and epidemiological institute of sport (Irmes), which analysed 3,260 world records going back to the first modern Olympics in 1896, humans have reached their physiological limits, and after the year 2060, there will be no more world records.

Based on its analyses, Toussaint’s team predicts that in most of the quantifiable Olympic sports, the era of world records is drawing to a close. “We started our study in 1896, when we estimate people were operating at 75% of their physiological capacity. We are now at 99%. When we say there will be no more world records after 2060, it should not be forgotten that in about half of the events, there will be no world records after 2027.”

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