Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

These questions were posted on the ACSM email newsletter. I would be interested in the response of those of you who read this blog. I am going to reserve my comments for later when I have had more time to think about and analyze what occurred.What was the most significant sports performance by an individual and why?What was the most significant sports performance by a team and why?What country was
 
Continue reading…

These questions were posted on the ACSM email newsletter. I would be interested in the response of those of you who read this blog. I am going to reserve my comments for later when I have had more time to think about and analyze what occurred.
1 - What was the most significant sports performance by an individual and why?
2 - What was the most significant sports performance by a team and why?
3 - What country was most successful and why?
4 - What was the most relevant sports medicine/exercise science issue at the Games and why?

answers:

1 - i have to say Bolt and the 100m. The way he ran the race opened up the realms of possibilities now…what if he had kept running, what if he had dipped, so many questions about what he will run one day now…amazing stuff…

2 - Ill say USA mens basketballs overall dominance. They pretty much did what the original dream team did and in todays age that was pretty amazing…

3 - this ones a no brainer!!! Great Britian! Forth in the medals and by far the smallest county in the top 5. Amazing job lads!

4 - that having the fastest run way in the world doesn’t make for further jumps. Take away the board, and it probably would however…

crazyhops - 01 September 2008 03:02 PM

These questions were posted on the ACSM email newsletter. I would be interested in the response of those of you who read this blog. I am going to reserve my comments for later when I have had more time to think about and analyze what occurred.
1 - What was the most significant sports performance by an individual and why?
2 - What was the most significant sports performance by a team and why?
3 - What country was most successful and why?
4 - What was the most relevant sports medicine/exercise science issue at the Games and why?

answers:

1 - i have to say Bolt and the 100m. The way he ran the race opened up the realms of possibilities now…what if he had kept running, what if he had dipped, so many questions about what he will run one day now…amazing stuff…

2 - Ill say USA mens basketballs overall dominance. They pretty much did what the original dream team did and in todays age that was pretty amazing…

3 - this ones a no brainer!!! Great Britian! Forth in the medals and by far the smallest county in the top 5. Amazing job lads!

4 - that having the fastest run way in the world doesn’t make for further jumps. Take away the board, and it probably would however…

I’ll give you #3, but #1 is still Phelps, if Bolt had 4 golds then I could agree, but Chris Hoy’s performance equals Bolt’s and I think they are tied for #2.

2. USA Men’s Volleyball, British Team Pursuit, or Japanese Softball. 

4. Not enough positive drug tests.

haha..yeah struggled to answer because i moved in the middle of the games, and didnt get a tv until it was over so i really missed everything…

i do think bolts 100m however. I also understood question 1 to be individual performance. Phelps was overall because of all his races. Not one single race…

but good answers though

Hoy and Bolt should make for an outstanding Commonwealth Games next time around.  Both dominated their respective events almost as much as Phelps did.  If Wiggins and Cavendish would have won the Madison then I would have to of put Wiggins here to.

British Team Pursuit was amazing because they almost caught the Netherlands and they broke their standing WR by 3s.  The Jamaican 4x100m relay fits here too, but I expected them to break the record by around .2 seconds.

I am glad we agree on some things finally.

1 - What was the most significant sports performance by an individual and why?

I’d say Bolt’s overall performance and if it’s a single event performance, it’s his 100m run. Why? Because he destroyed a world class field in the most prestigious Olympic event and did the unprecedented- setting 3 world records while winning 3 sprint events at the Olympics.

2 - What was the most significant sports performance by a team and why?

Chinese Men’s Gymnastics team OR Chinese diving team. They absolutely DESTROYED all other nations like no other nation (including Jamaica in the sprints) in any other sport.

3 - What country was most successful and why?

China. They wanted to win the total medal count and they did (at least by all non-U.S. counts). They won more medals than any other nation by far and completely turned around their athletic profile in a matter of 4 years. Also, the opening ceremonies showed off China to the world in way that many will never forget.

4 - What was the most relevant sports medicine/exercise science issue at the Games and why?

I can’t point to one overwhelming issue but I would love to have a comprehensive analysis of what the Chinese did for sport science-athlete integration and also see how they integrated Eastern medicine in to their recovery regimens.

The most significant individual sports performance? Easy…Usian Bolt in the 100m. If athletics had events like the 100m side shuffle, 100m whilst beating the chest, and 100m with arms like aeroplane wings Usain would have got as many medals as Phelps. Or..if athletics had medley relays (i.e. one runner could run backwards, one could hop, one could use a potato sack etc.) Usain would have won more medals than Phelps.

The most significant team performance? Easier…the Jamaican 4x100m men’s relay team. The whole world stopped to watch not only to see them break the world record but also for the suspense that we had come to experience during baton changes!!

Most successful country? That’s a no brainer…Jamaica! Better known for the Olympic champions of their heritage that have won gold for other countries, how proud they must have been to see their flag raised so many times.

Sports medicine/exercise science issue? Jamaica? Hmmm…maybe. When the dust settles from all the analysing that us (and no doubt the rest of the sports science community) have been carrying out on Usain and his mates, we may see a revolution in the sport. What are they quoting now…6 seconds for the 100?

And what an opening ceremony too! Onya Jamaica, onya Usain, and onya Beijing.

no way china…jamaica maybe but not actually at all because the question was the olympic games…china have a zillion people and didnt have to travel anywhere…

jamaica is only good at one thing….

and Great Britian is SMALL, and totally well rounded in terms of medals…come on

You can’t just use population though as the best indicator / equalizer though because a country can only bring 3 athletes in most sports. So that means the UK will bring 3 athletes for diving and China will bring three athletes for diving. On the surface it looks like China has this massive advantage because they’re pulling from a much larger pool (which is undoubtedly true) BUT I would guess that if the number of participant restrictions weren’t there and the governing bodies just selected the top thirty divers, 100m sprinters, marathoners, etc. that you’d find that 15 of the 100m people would be from America, and 20 of the divers would be from China, 14 of the marathoners would be from Ethiopia, etc. So in effect, while they do have a massive population advantage, it likely isn’t fully reflected in the results because they leave so many people home who are potential medal winners in there own right.

The country that wins for medals per capita is the Bahamas hands down. In fact, it’s not even close. I believe they’ve won 2 medals at the last 3 Olympics and they only have a population of about 300,000 people. On a similar note, if we used Orange County (CA) as a country I’d imagine that they’d place in the top 5 overall and would easily take the cake for medals per capita.