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Records quickly become fleeting memory (14 August)
These days, claiming a sport world record doesn’t guarantee that you will be holding it for very long.
At the European Championships two weeks ago, Germany snatched the 4x100m women’s freestyle world record at 3:35.22 minutes. The record ousts the Australian team’s time of 3:35.94, set at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
While this leaves Australia as the ‘underdogs’ for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the small 0.72-second difference between the two records suggests that in this age of minute measurement, anything is possible.
Professor Allen Guttmann, author of From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (2004), has stated, “The Greeks used to say that man is the measure of all things, and we've turned that around and decided that man is the object of endless measurements.”
Detailed time recording has made the sporting world go record-crazy, with new records being constantly set. Two weeks ago at the US Swimming Championships, Australian swimmer Michael Phelps also stole the 100m butterfly title from American Ian Crocker by 22-hundreths of a second.
Guttmann suggests that excitement over new world records is a metaphor for human progress and provides “a uniquely modern form of immortality”.
Yet, perhaps miniscule time differences indicate that there is a limit to human performance. Guttmann conceives a point when it is difficult to defeat any title. As Crocker notes, “Sometimes people expect miracles out of us every time we swim. We expect that, too, but you’ve got to be realistic."
But history has shown that we are constantly surprised by the extent of human ability. In 1954, it was thought impossible for anyone to run a mile in less than four minutes. Britain’s Roger Bannister proved this wrong that year with a time of three minutes and 59.4 seconds. Six weeks later, Australian John Landy beat that record.
Phelps offers the ultimate inspiration: "I wouldn't say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it."
By Melissa Krafchek
Links
CNN -- http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/07/31/swimming.record/index.html
Canberra swimming -- http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=sport&subclass=swimming&story_id=500023&category=Swimming&m=8&y=2006
News Asia -- http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/223201/1/.html
Ausport -- http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/sportsf/s74497.htm
Greenman -- http://thegreenman.net.au/finishline/archives/worlds_10_greatest_athletic_achievments.html
Swim Psychology -- http://www.swimpsychology.com/motivational_quotes.php3
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