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O<\/span>bviously, progressions in sports clothing technology must make a small difference to the abilities of an athlete \u2013 but how on earth is it physically possible that we continue to break world records, year on year? Are humans really faster or stronger than they were decades ago? Jennifer Michaelson, Newlyn<\/em><\/p>\n Send new questions to <\/em>nq@theguardian.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n I think it\u2019s partly because there is a larger pool of athletes. In the past, competing athletes would have primarily been from western countries. Now, they\u2019re from all over. Sfddes<\/strong><\/p>\n One reason for better results is 3 billion extra people on Earth just since 1990. The chance of a \u201cspecial one\u201d in there improves significantly. catchytitled<\/strong><\/p>\n This is due to the advancements in nutrition and training. If you compare these with 20 years ago, there is a big difference. And added to this is the advances in sports equipment. MartWolves<\/strong><\/p>\n Several pathways to advance performance have emerged. One is refined training, nutrition and equipment. That is partly enabled through the ability of athletes to turn professional. It allows them to construct their routines every day around improving at the sport; no need to separately earn a living, get an education or deal with other distractions.<\/p>\n Another is higher levels of participation. A wider demographic can try the sport, which improves the chance of seeing some emerge as international-level prospects at an early age. How many Kenyans would have seen a path to earning a living through running a few decades ago? Now, it\u2019s an ambition for a substantial number of young runners<\/a>, who know it\u2019s a realistic career. leadballoon<\/strong><\/p>\n It seems that while there remains scope for \u201cmarginal gains\u201d<\/a> in sports (as Dave Brailsford<\/a> pursued in cycling), records will continue to fall, albeit by smaller and smaller amounts. Improvements in sports science and technology allow you to wring out gains in areas previously unavailable.<\/p>\n Regarding cycling, I recall Mark Cavendish noting with scepticism that, due to advancements in science, monitoring and so on, some teams thought it made more sense to find someone with optimal physiology and teach them the sport from scratch than to identify a good young cyclist and train them to be better. DocRicketts<\/strong><\/p>\n In a lot of Olympic sports, the competitor doesn\u2019t have to break a world record by much \u2013 one-hundredth of a second faster or a centimetre longer will do the job. The pole-vaulter Armand Duplantis<\/a> (and Sergey Bubka<\/a> before him) breaks his own world records 1cm at a time, almost as a party piece (and for a big cash bonus). In other events, such as track running or swimming, however, the main priority is to finish ahead of everyone else; if that results in breaking the world record, then all well and good. dfic1999<\/strong><\/p>\n Interesting that the Enhanced Games<\/a> held recently in the US produced so few new records [only Kristian Gkolomeev bested an official world record, for the men\u2019s 50m freestyle<\/a>]. I think because it was more of a marketing exercise to sell more supplements, but \u201cclean\u201d athletes did as well or better than their drug-taking counterparts. Presumably, the \u201cclean\u201d athletes relied more on plain old hard work, consistency and healthily nurtured talent; those seem to be the areas where we continue to improve. fabulouswilsonsister<\/strong><\/p>\nReaders reply<\/h2>\n