Nice piece Steve and I agree with the sentiment, and - honestly - enjoy your putting away the tech bro’s, whom I I will not claim I’m not extremely biased about. Yet your root analysis; I don’t know…
That the swimming WR would be due to the suits sounds plausible and was new argument for me.
But you could argue that the fact that there were no (further) world records at the enhanced games just shows that doping is already systemic in ordinary sports. E.g. ordinary sports are already enhanced.
And further environment or interested athletes we just sub optimal. I don’t necesarily assume this myself, but I remain agnostic and I don’t see you counter or tackle that argument.
As far as the this could prove everyones doping…I just don’t buy that argument. Mostly, because in the sprints, they took a bunch of past their prime folks who still couldn’t reach times they ran in high school, or even what they did last season.
Does that mean every one of these athletes was doping in HS? Of course not. It just means that their protocols and training and time to do it all…sucked.
That's the biggest issue with optimisation. People want to control every metric and do everything exactly right according to external research so they will be able to perform. But they don't realise that it creates an expectation and puts the burden of responsibility on the external gadget (or indicator or whatever you're measuring). Elite performers forget about external circumstances and very often about internal circumstances as well.
As you say, steroids work. If you think "they're supposed to work," then you're screwed because you have no agency at all.
Beautiful perspective!! 🙏
Nice piece Steve and I agree with the sentiment, and - honestly - enjoy your putting away the tech bro’s, whom I I will not claim I’m not extremely biased about. Yet your root analysis; I don’t know…
That the swimming WR would be due to the suits sounds plausible and was new argument for me.
But you could argue that the fact that there were no (further) world records at the enhanced games just shows that doping is already systemic in ordinary sports. E.g. ordinary sports are already enhanced.
And further environment or interested athletes we just sub optimal. I don’t necesarily assume this myself, but I remain agnostic and I don’t see you counter or tackle that argument.
We have research on the suits from when they were a big deal. And depending on the comparison point and event, the boost was between 1.5 and 5.5%. Massive. See: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705812017341
As far as the this could prove everyones doping…I just don’t buy that argument. Mostly, because in the sprints, they took a bunch of past their prime folks who still couldn’t reach times they ran in high school, or even what they did last season.
Does that mean every one of these athletes was doping in HS? Of course not. It just means that their protocols and training and time to do it all…sucked.
That's the biggest issue with optimisation. People want to control every metric and do everything exactly right according to external research so they will be able to perform. But they don't realise that it creates an expectation and puts the burden of responsibility on the external gadget (or indicator or whatever you're measuring). Elite performers forget about external circumstances and very often about internal circumstances as well.
As you say, steroids work. If you think "they're supposed to work," then you're screwed because you have no agency at all.
Development v. Formation. Both can occur when conditions are right