Fewest World Records Ever - Humans Have Athletically Peaked

These Olympics were weird.

On the one hand, they were exciting, fun, and even lived up to the hype.

On the other hand, they were demoralizing - that one line we all chase after, even as viewers…despite adding dozens of new events, we as a species are struggling MIGHTILY to break world records (outside of the velodrome)…

Why? What factors are causing this?

It depends on where you look…in this video, I discuss closed-skill sports limits, such as sprinting…and open-skilled sports limits…

I spoke with several people to make this video possible and I want to thank them - Dr. Timothy Olds, who wrote the original paper and counted the “Big Bang of Body Types” along with his partner.

Special thanks to Dr. Peter Weyand, who the head of Kinesiology at TCU…and runs his own “speed lab”...

Seth Partnow, former head of basketball analytics for the Bucks and current writer for The Athletic, for his help (as always) with NBA analytics...he kindly pointed out the difference in midrange shooting in his book "The Midrange Theory" (well worth a read for basketball heads).

Other sources:

- Epstein, David - "Are Athletes Getting More Athletic?" (Jesse Owens vs. Bolt comparison)
- "Olympic Athletes are Approaching the Limits of Human Performance" Washington Post (world records)
- "Morphological evolution of athletes over the 20th century: causes and consequences" Olds, Norton

Hope you enjoy!

00:00 The Big Bang of Body Types
01:18 A summer night in Berlin…
02:01 Are athletes getting more athletic?
08:00 Basketball Time Dilation
11:30 The Dream Team vs. The Avengers – A New Hoops Human Limit
16:10 More science than sociology…

[jwilly]

It’s surreal to see an independent creator rival 30 for 30 quality. Can’t wait to see this channel blow up

[greggassen]

BTW. World aquatics (at the time they were called FINA), the governing body for swimming, banned the fastest swimsuits ever created in 2009. Every world record since has been swam with a significantly slower suit

[mitchellmounts]

Female sprinting records are so tainted by all the insane doping going on in the 80s.

[kwakba]

The Avengers cutouts having cowboy hats is too absurdly hilarious

[vitoperriello]

This dude should easily have a million subs

[dvdv]

I thoroughly enjoyed these Olympics for the most part, and I for one do not need records to be broken time and time again to appreciate the greatness of today's athletes. 😊

Just enjoy the current moment, the current crop of special sporters. 😉👏

[bobsope]

I love the Owens vs Bolt thing and generally think older athletes(especially the freaks) as too often discredited. However, this is a very dishonest argument by NOT talking about laser time vs hand time. Hand times are... Not even close to accurate. Especially when you have high school kids running a 4.4 40(hand time), then going to a Nike camp and getting a much more accurate 4.6(laser time). Should be a very important part of the Bolt vs Owens discussion

[sidenote]

if this were earlier in youtube when the algorithm didn't heavily favor daily or weekly uploads and consistent schedules, this channel would be popping off. It's fantastic work, deserves more recognition.

[SchimShady]

You deserve so many more subscribers and views. C'mon Youtube algorithm. This man is video production gold

[levanlolashvili]

The graph at 2:09 is terribly deceiving the last period from 2020 to 2024 on the horizontal axis looks as long as the 20 year gaps before that... Misrepresenting data to prove a point is not good journalism.

[theleftuprightatsoldierfield]

The throws, pole vault, and the 400 hurdles are just about the only track and field records being touched these days. It’s not a coincidence that these are some of the most technical disciplines in the sport. Of course the mixed relays are being regularly broken but that’s only because they’re so new

[johnl.]

During the last century the athletic size/selection globally has also increased significantly as has the opportunity for better training around the world.

[rebmoe]

Another banger from the legendary man in tweed.

[DanielDeGraaf]

Please don't stop making these videos. As a lifelong science and sport YouTube watcher, this is my new favorite channel by FAR.

[CamdenWilson]

This was one of the best videos I've seen in a while. The margins at the highest level are so small, that's what makes greatness so great

[speedwagon-eb]

The Dream Team heads won’t be convinced even if you show them your sound reasoning in this video 😂

[taliesine.]

A large factor is also, that the last 4 years where hard for competition sports across the board. The pandemic surely set many aspiring talents back for a bit.

[Nickxis]

Really surprised you didn't talked about Peds

[shuang]

man I feel like I should be paying to watch this video - the production quality is on point. Thank you!

[waterDrinker]

All this talk about old athletes not being able to qualify for today's olympics and still the record for the high jump is 30+ years old, makes it even more impressive that with all the progress that sports has made nobody could touch it. nothing beats elite genetics