Should Bolt compete with ppl his weight (&height)?

[Powell]

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"?

But basketball players have always been much taller than the average in the population. There is a definite advantage to being tall in that game. In sprinting, there isn't - Bolt isn't the first tall guy in history to try sprinting, he's just the first one of his height to become world's no. 1.

[lonewolf]

Weight classes for runners is a bad idea. Hardly applicable to world class running but when I was in elementary school, races were actually heated by weight instead of age. I had a cousin, four years older, who was very small for his age. He was shaving in the eight grade and running against fourth graders (me). I hated him :evil:
Adding insult to injury, my middle name was the same as his first name. :cry:

[berkeley]

Maybe I should apply for a job as Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, if writing "research" papers like these is sufficient qualification. What nonsense! Of course leading sprinters are getting a little taller and heavier, but they are no means out of the ordinary - on average. In recent times, Greene, Boldon and many others dominated, while being well under 6'. Even the taller sprinters of the recent era - Lewis, Christie, Bailey and Powell - were not much above 6', hardly an unusual stature. Bolt is exceptional, and I would be very surprised if the next few sprint champions are close to his height. Personally, I would far rather watch Bolt beat a field of shorter athletes than watch someone else beat a field from which Bolt has been excluded, then watch a separate race with him destroying a bunch of lumbering basketball players! Let's leave weight classes for the boxers and wrestlers.
Full disclosure - I'm 6'6" and have spent a long T&F career being thrashed by much shorter athletes - at events including the high jump and high hurdles.

[Speedfirst]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Lets make a pro basketball league for the little men and one for the big men, im sure the fan base will be very much equal.

Already one,it's called the WNBA and NBA.

[proofs in the pudd'in]

All this will not matter when Tyson Gay beats Bolt in Berlin :P

[Jerome Marrow]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Sprinters aren't any taller though and the GOAT is still a guy who was 5'9". I am not even sure there is any different in body types except more muscularity which is, sadly, likely because of not only including weight training, but because of the other change that has been around that basically started about 50 years ago (AAS use).

The thing that is annoying about people freaking out about Bolt is that tall people have sprinted a looooooong time and they have not consistently performed better. Bolt is an exception, but there are plenty of people under 6' that kick the shit out of people over 6'. Mo, Gatlin, Tyson, BJ, TMont..... all under 6' and had no problem running extremely fast times.

[Track fan]

So what competition would Bolt have in the 195cm+ category? :P

Tim Goebel and Florian Schwartzhoff(spelling is off).

[infinityemmo]

Because of his height al his times should have an A behind his times..

[track_expert]

All this will not matter when Tyson Gay beats Bolt in Berlin :P

Wonder what american fans will say when its completely other way around.

[Speedfirst]

[quote=track_expert]

All this will not matter when Tyson Gay beats Bolt in Berlin :P

Wonder what american fans will say when its completely other way around.[/quote:37tko5et]

American fans, why does it have to be about just American fans?

[track_expert]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Sprinters aren't any taller though and the GOAT is still a guy who was 5'9". I am not even sure there is any different in body types except more muscularity which is, sadly, likely because of not only including weight training, but because of the other change that has been around that basically started about 50 years ago (AAS use).

The thing that is annoying about people freaking out about Bolt is that tall people have sprinted a looooooong time and they have not consistently performed better. Bolt is an exception, but there are plenty of people under 6' that kick the shit out of people over 6'. Mo, Gatlin, Tyson, BJ, TMont..... all under 6' and had no problem running extremely fast times.

Goat? Mo?

Mo is the GOOT.

Greatest of Old Times

[Speedfirst]

[quote=track_expert]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Sprinters aren't any taller though and the GOAT is still a guy who was 5'9". I am not even sure there is any different in body types except more muscularity which is, sadly, likely because of not only including weight training, but because of the other change that has been around that basically started about 50 years ago (AAS use).

The thing that is annoying about people freaking out about Bolt is that tall people have sprinted a looooooong time and they have not consistently performed better. Bolt is an exception, but there are plenty of people under 6' that kick the shit out of people over 6'. Mo, Gatlin, Tyson, BJ, TMont..... all under 6' and had no problem running extremely fast times.

Goat? Mo?

Mo is the GOOT.

Greatest of Old Times[/quote:2g2v03x5]

One MEET....doesn't the GOAT make.

Still only one meet.

[track_expert]

[quote=Speedfirst]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Sprinters aren't any taller though and the GOAT is still a guy who was 5'9". I am not even sure there is any different in body types except more muscularity which is, sadly, likely because of not only including weight training, but because of the other change that has been around that basically started about 50 years ago (AAS use).

The thing that is annoying about people freaking out about Bolt is that tall people have sprinted a looooooong time and they have not consistently performed better. Bolt is an exception, but there are plenty of people under 6' that kick the shit out of people over 6'. Mo, Gatlin, Tyson, BJ, TMont..... all under 6' and had no problem running extremely fast times.

Goat? Mo?

Mo is the GOOT.

Greatest of Old Times

One MEET....doesn't the GOAT make.

Still only one meet.[/quote:uytvp1q4]

Put Mo in his prime against Bolt and see if you still think he's the GOAT

[Jerome Marrow]

[quote=track_expert][quote=Speedfirst]

What about the theory that it is predicted that in the future speed events will be dominated by people who are even more different to 'normal' people than our current elite sprinters are?

Aren't the current basketball players taller on average than players 50 years ago? Isn't the NBA dominated by people "who are even more different to 'normal' people"? Is anyone making a big deal about that?

Aren't the awareness of the importance of physical fitness, proper diet and nutrition and weight training all contributing factors to the fact that on average sprinters are bigger and heavier now than 50 years ago?

Sprinters aren't any taller though and the GOAT is still a guy who was 5'9". I am not even sure there is any different in body types except more muscularity which is, sadly, likely because of not only including weight training, but because of the other change that has been around that basically started about 50 years ago (AAS use).

The thing that is annoying about people freaking out about Bolt is that tall people have sprinted a looooooong time and they have not consistently performed better. Bolt is an exception, but there are plenty of people under 6' that kick the shit out of people over 6'. Mo, Gatlin, Tyson, BJ, TMont..... all under 6' and had no problem running extremely fast times.

Goat? Mo?

Mo is the GOOT.

Greatest of Old Times

One MEET....doesn't the GOAT make.

Still only one meet.[/quote:4t6bzuch]

Put Mo in his prime against Bolt and see if you still think he's the GOAT [/quote:4t6bzuch]

Bolt hasn't even won a World Championship yet. He won the Olympics--phenomenal. Insane world records--even better. He hasn't had the longevity to be considered a GOAT, at all. I should correct myself and say he hasn't had any longevity since he has only become talked about as one of the best of all time from one season, while Mo was at the top from '97-'04. Mo set world records in the 60m and 100m and won numerous titles. Hell, he won titles over a greater range than Bolt has (60m, 100m, and 200m)!

Give it a few more years and the GOAT talk can start. Hell, if Mo hadn't gotten hurt in Edmonton, the 9.69 that Bolt ran would not be as outrageous.

[Jerome Marrow]

Oh and nice job, again, stealing the GOOT joke from someone else yet again. You have no originality or insight, whatsoever. You are track_jokerandmime, not track_expert.