COMPUTERIZED MARKS - BRUMEL 7'11 etc

[parkerrclay]

I recently read an old article from scientist Gideon Ariel. He stated that if Valery Brumel had used the flop in his prime, he would have leaped 7'11. I've also remember reading that Sergey Bubka has had computerized marks of over 20'6 in the pole vault.

Of course, these scientific marks are not official. However, they may help us determine what the limits in performance could be. Has anyone else heard or read of any "scientific" marks like the ones I mentioned above??

[Track fan]

Re: COMPUTERIZED MARKS - BRUMEL 7'11 etc

Wouldn't suprise me about Brumel he had serious hops.......

[johnhunter]

Re: COMPUTERIZED MARKS - BRUMEL 7'11 etc

>I recently read an old article from scientist Gideon Ariel. He stated that if
>Valery Brumel had used the flop in his prime, he would have leaped 7'11. I've
>also remember reading that Sergey Bubka has had computerized marks of over 20'6
>in the pole vault.

Of course, these scientific marks are not official.
>However, they may help us determine what the limits in performance could be.
>Has anyone else heard or read of any "scientific" marks like the ones I
>mentioned above??

Why only 7' 11"? Considering the lousy conditions he had to compete under in the '60s I think an 8' jump is a consideration. Put Brumel on coke like Soto and who knows 8' 6"?

[jhc68]

Re: COMPUTERIZED MARKS - BRUMEL 7'11 etc

Well, it is fun to conjecture about such stuff, but "computerized" marks are just someone's conjecture masked with a lot of crapola that was fed into a computer. Junk in, junk out as they say. Point is there is no reason to regard a computerized performance model with any more regard than all of us just spewing opinions.

My own spew of opinion is that Brumel could have jumped considerably higher (certainly 7'8" or 7'9") with modern surfaces and landing cushions and training technniques and even with something as simple as a competitor to push him to higher marks.

Brumel did whatever was needed to win (he refused to lose) and in big meets that meant he only had to be sure to beat John Thomas. If JT had jumped 3-4 inches higher, Brumel would have, too. Could be that Brumel would have jumped higher with a flop technique but, my goodness, he was so fast and strong and so efficient in wrapping his center of mass around the bar that I would question whether or not he would have been significantly more successful flopping.