Forums >Racing>Usain Bolt vs. 116 Years of Olympic Sprinters
not bad for mile 25
Thought y'all would enjoy this.
Usain Bolt vs. 116 Years of Olympic Sprinters
No more marathons
Thought y'all would enjoy this. Usain Bolt vs. 116 Years of Olympic Sprinters
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
Is it a true evolutionary jump for mankind? Or just progress in the science of making PED use invisible? I'm jaded and have zero trust anymore as far as world records in running go, or in making heroes in sports. Or when baseball players in their 40's are having years that are among the best of their career. My suspension of disbelief and any handing out of "benefit of the doubt" passes went out the door with Jones, Bonds, Rodriguez and Armstrong. One of my favorite baseball players is having a great year in his last year before retirement at age 40...but I'm not fully enjoying it, because I have no trust anymore--even if the person is nice, has a big smile, and a winning personality. I want to take joy in these seemingly great accomplishments, but the ability to let go and trust that it's real is gone forever. *Sigh*
Is it a true evolutionary jump for mankind? Or just progress in the science of making PED use invisible?
False dichotomy.
Runners run
When it comes to Bolt's WR, I don't think it is. He's either something very special and true leap ahead for the human race in terms of running speed and "talent" (genetics), or he's on the juice. I'm not sure what else would be responsible for such a huge leap ahead. Extra sleep? Training methods? Big legs? I don't think so. I understand that, in general, if you compare the early athletes with the later ones that there are many more factors to be considered (like training methods and larger pool of athletes), and questions to add in between what seems like the extreme ones I now see running WR's through in this jaded mind of mind.
Perhaps, you can enlighten me more about Bolt than just chucking out the label "false dichotomy", and release me from my doldrums.
He's an outlier for sure--a once in a generation (or once in a lifetime) talent who was also fortunate to be reared in an environment that nurtured his talent and reinforced his work ethic. I doubt very much he is some sort of dramatic leap forward for the human species, but rather the example of what humankind has always been capable in the extraordinarily unlikely event that that sort of lalent met the right set of circumstances plus tons of hard work.
He could also be doping. But I don't think so, or maybe I just choose to believe not.
In any case there aren't two mutually exclusive causes for Usain Bolt, therefore false dichotomy. I thought that was implicitly obvious.
He's an outlier for sure--a once in a generation (or once in a lifetime) talent who was also fortunate to be reared in an environment that nurtured his talent and reinforced his work ethic. I doubt very much he is some sort of dramatic leap forward for the human species, but rather the example of what humankind has always been capable in the extraordinarily unlikely event that that sort of lalent met the right set of circumstances plus tons of hard work. He could also be doping. But I don't think so, or maybe I just choose to believe not. In any case there aren't two mutually exclusive causes for Usain Bolt, therefore false dichotomy. I thought that was implicitly obvious.
Thank you.
If you just read the first two sentences of my post out of context, it surely seems like I'm proposing a false dichotomy for discussion, and it would surely be implicitly obvious to people much smarter than me. But the point of the full post was to express my disillusionment, and the current way I view all current WR-level accomplishment in running (and seemingly amazing seasons for 40 year-olds in baseball). So, I look at the video and I'm reticent to think Bolt's WR is an amazing feat, just as I thought Armstrong's amazing run of titles were, or the Sammy Sosa-MarkMcGuire home run duel was. Because no matter how much you bring in the upbringing, work ethic (almost all great runners have great work ethic), talent, etc., I feel so screwed over at this point in life by these athletes, that my mind is truly that black and white on the subject. Charlie Brown trusting Lucy not to pull the football away, yet again, comes to mind. I don't want to be Charlie anymore. Disillusionment hurts to much.