Quote:
Originally Posted by dlish
sure, usain bolt has performed exceptionally. but are we sure its clean? i say no based on my research into the 100m world record progression.
of all the 13 times someone has run under 9.80, 7 of those times have been run this year. and all except one has been run in the last 3 years. theres definately something not right there.
we also have the issue with the progression itself. the shorter the distance, the quicker the progression plataeus. in the case of the 100m, the progression gradient has become steeper considerably. in the last 2 years alonethe world record progression has been reduced by 0.82%. that is daylight in terms of 100m sprinting (about 1m).
with the short distance, you would expect that the progression should only be a hundred of a second every few years or so. but the steep decline in World Records rings alarm bells. even marathon times are not reduced by those sorts of percentages.
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Dont forget, however, that:
A) Bolt is a very young athlete. It's not unusual to see great progress in the late teen to early twenty years. It would be odd to see a mature runner make such advances, I agree.
B) His focus originally had been more 200/400 - with more concerted 100 training, of course he has improved in the last couple of years.
C) Physically, the guy is a freak. There's been no one with his frame who has really performed at this level.
He has been subjected to a very rigorous in and out of competition testing regime, as have the other Jamaican athletes. If even one of them (Powell or one of the others) tested positive I think we'd all be right to be more suspicious. Until something turns up, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.