The Physics of the World's Fastest Man

cylonlover writes "The Honourable Usain Bolt (Order of Jamaica; Commander of the Order of Distinction) is often held out as the world's fastest man. The reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints as well as a member of the Olympic champion 4x100 meter relay team, Bolt is the first man to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, and is a five-time world champion. Long and lanky at 6 ft 5 in (2 m) tall, he towers above the (mostly) much shorter sprinters. How has he managed to come out on top for the past five years? A team of physicists from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) has analyzed Bolt's past performances in the 100-meter sprint to understand what makes a record-breaker."

Comments

Re:Drugs.

[umghhh]

why is it modded -1 - I mean that is true is it not? If somebody believes that top athletes of today do not use any drugs to get there s/he is naive. For some time I believed that the like chess and table tennis would be immune but now I do not and you know what - I do not care. It is just entertainment and if they want to take drugs so be it. I am just sorry for those few sportsmen that actually did not know they consume stuff that is no good. Only to tell which ones are those is difficult if at all possible. Still I guess there are some.

So bottom line is: yes it matters how you run - technique and 'talent' (whatever that is in particular case) but without drugs no success.