It was reported this week that experts at the French institute of sport IRMES predicted that after 2060, there would be no new sporting records. That’s because humans would have reached their physiological limits. The study was based on an analysis of world records, focusing on five sports – athletics, cycling, weightlifting, swimming, and speed skating.
Will the time clock reflect no new records after 2060? © Leslie Tan/Red Sports
Red Sports ventures three predictions on what this means for the future of sports:
- Performance gaps among top athletes will narrow. International sporting events will therefore rely increasingly on technology to differentiate winners from losers, the honest from the cheat.
- At the same time, athletes themselves will come under intense pressure to enhance performance through other means, whether legal (e.g. better equipment and gear) or otherwise. This also means that sports authorities will need to keep pace with the science and, more controversially, rethink policies on the use of performance-enhancing drugs and technologies.
- As the more established sports reach their limits to growth, new sports or adapted versions of old sports will emerge to take their place.
Read more from:
The Telegraph, UK
The National Post, Canada
4. New sports federations will emerge from existing ones as tech, science, what was previously deemed ‘illegal’ is challenged with new precedents.
5. It follows that different sports will progress at different pace. Not unlike first world and third world countries.
6. Third world sports will be constantly in the news and seen by most as a dirty sport.
Prediction:
4. There will be a boom in high end sports goods industry as technology becomes the key differentiating factor in performance.
This article reeks of Dawn. 🙂
While mere mortals like us try to push ourselves further, a major debate on men vs prosthetic limbs in sports continues. It overturns our perception of prosthetics and disabilities when some of these people outperform their ‘normal healthy’ counterparts.