Olympics - Times edge closer to perfection point
- A mythical athlete from the Caribbean clocks 8.99 seconds over 100 metres in the year 2909.
Some centuries earlier, in 2245, a Kenyan runs the marathon in one hour, 57 minutes, 58 seconds.
These fictitious case studies, according to John Brenkus in his book “The Perfection Point” which calculates ultimate limits for a host of sporting achievements, contain the fastest times humanly possible for the shortest and longest events on the Olympic athletics programme.
Speculation about the possibilities at either end of the spectrum has been stirred by the astonishing performances of Usain Bolt over 100 metres in 2008/09 and a remarkable marathon performance by Patrick Makau last year.
In 2008, Jamaican Bolt set a world record of 9.72 seconds in his first competitive season over the 100. At the Beijing Olympics he clocked 9.69 in the final. A year later he ran 9.58 at the Berlin world championships.
Kenya's Makau slashed 21 seconds off Haile Gebrselassie's world marathon record with a time of two hours, three minutes, 38 seconds in Berlin last September. Such is the strength of Kenyan distance running that even this landmark was not enough to win selection for the London Olympics.Startling as Bolt's performances were, Brenkus, the host and executive producer of the Sports Science show on the ESPN sports channel, believes they are in line with the expected progression of the men's 100 metres record.