Eli5: From the early 20th century until now the 100m sprint world record has improved for over a second. Is it only better training, or have the doping methods developed to the point of being undetectable?

Question

Eli5: From the early 20th century until now the 100m sprint world record has improved for over a second. Is it only better training, or have the doping methods developed to the point of being undetectable?

In: Biology

Answer 1

I’ve seen many good explanations for this. Mostly, it comes down to better technology and people with longer legs. In the very first Olympics, runners were running on leather soled shoes on rough concrete or gravel, and the average height of a runner was the “above average” height of the time.

With the passage of time, shoes became rubber, the track became a rubber mesh, runners now start on runner blocks, and every decade the average height of the contestant’s increases.

Adjusting for these differences, it is estimated that the true change in time for the 100M dash is incredibly small. I can’t remember the exact estimated change, but it was something like 1-2% over 100 years. Like… if you took athletes from the 1930’s, increased their leg length a bit, and trained them with modern gear for a couple weeks, they would be just as fast as our current top runners.