The leadership of the British Athletics Federation put forward the idea to nullify the world records in athletics. This is due to the large number and scale of doping scandals in 2015. The initiative found understanding with the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Sebastian Coe.
He proposed the abolition of “suspicious” higher results that could have been achieved using illegal drugs. Such records even today seem unattainable.
History
The first professional athletes appeared in the middle of the XIX century in England. Then, for the first time, the registration of the best results in various types of athletics competitions began. The first world records in athletics were recorded in the 1 mile race. With the organization in 1914 of international governing bodies, the IAAF, rules were developed for registering top achievements and a list of disciplines in which they were recorded.
Gradually, the methods for measuring the results and the conditions of the competitions were regulated so that the value of the records was not questioned. In 1968, in Mexico City, at the Olympic Games, in running disciplines, the most automated time measuring system was first used. The result was recorded accurate to hundredths of a second. World records in athletics in throwing and jumping began to be recorded using the most modern measuring instruments and electronic systems.
Basic rules for ratifying world records
To put athletes on an equal footing, adhering to the strict rules established by the IAAF is necessary to recognize a record as valid. So, covering treadmills, finishing equipment, marking - everything must comply with approved standards. World records are not fixed - the best results in athletics - in competitions where athletes of different sexes participate, or if athletes with different citizenship run in the relay team. When carrying out sprint races up to 200 m and horizontal jumps, tailwind should not exceed 2 m / s. For all-around competitions, gusts of wind up to 4 m / s are allowed.
The most important condition for successful registration, which must be passed in international sports bodies by world records in athletics, is the implementation of strict anti-doping control measures. Any violation of the rules for submitting samples and conducting their research makes the highest achievements illegitimate. It is precisely around these issues that doubts about the laws of especially extraordinary world achievements revolve.
Varieties of world achievements
The most prestigious in the athletics world are considered the records set by men and women in the Olympic track and field athletics in competitions held in the open air. After the Olympics, the second most important athlete competition is the summer world championship. World Athletics Championship records - an honorable achievement for any runner, thrower or all-around. Winter championships held in sports arenas under the roof have their own specifics and their own table of top achievements.
Any significant competition of athletes has its own history, which means its own table of achievements. Records of the Olympic Games, continental championships, the largest stages of the athletics Grand Prix - a significant incentive for any athlete. The largest sports facilities also keep their chronicle of the best results, which can be constantly updated.
Records at different ages
In the history of sports, there are many stars who showed record results at different stages of their sports career. The table, which records the world records in athletics among juniors, contains the names of those who later achieved the highest results in adulthood. The fastest sprinter on the planet, Usain Bolt, holds the world record in the 200m race and the junior record 19.93 s and the adult 19.19 s.
After the end of a career in sports, a real athlete does not stop active training. Competitions between veterans contribute to the popularity of sports, and world records in athletics among veterans are an excellent incentive not to reduce competitive activity in adulthood. Athletes compete in their age groups and strive to break the records shown by the same age.
Leap into the next millennium
Specialists are often asked how often they will be updated and to what level the highest results in different athletics disciplines can be brought. There are records in history that seemed unshakable, but surpassed by athletes of future generations. One of the most striking examples is the achievement of the long jumper Bob Beamon.
In the final of the Olympic Games in Mexico City, he managed to jump 8.90 m. The previous world record was exceeded by a fantastic 55 cm. On the day of the final, it was drizzling, the wind was within normal limits. They said that he, like all athletes, was helped by the rarefied air of the highlands. The judges for a long time could not correctly measure Bimon's “flight”, and when the record numbers appeared, no one could for a long time believe in their correctness. This record was considered eternal, but 23 years passed, and the American jumper Mike Powell exceeded it at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo by 5 cm. Achieving Beamon remains an Olympic record.
Oldest record
If a decision is made to nullify the world records table, achievements will also fall, which half a century may well turn out to be. The oldest world records in athletics were shown at a time when the use of stimulants were not subjected to such severe prohibitions as today. Therefore, many people express the illegitimacy of their being in the list of highest achievements, although they are shown not by “caliphs per hour”, but by athletes who have come a long and difficult way to the top.
July 26, 1983 the Czechoslovak runner Yarmila Kratokhvilova ran 2 laps in the stadium - 800 m - in 1 min 53.28 sec. She was already an experienced athlete and before sprinting in the middle distances she was engaged in sprinting. Its result seems unrealistic for today's runners.
The oldest world record for disciplines in the track and field program is the shot put shot for the enclosed space, also shown by the Czechoslovak athlete, Helena Fibingerova. On February 19, 1977, she sent a projectile at 20 m 50 cm. The best result for the open arena is also an old-timer, he is only 9 years younger and 13 cm more. He belongs to the Soviet athlete Natalya Lisovskaya.
Top Sports
A world record is not only a guide for all who engage in high-level sports. In the modern world, where sport is a developed branch of mass entertainment, a material incentive is also important. Bonuses and payments that are intended for world record-holders and athletes are expressed in significant figures. It is no coincidence that in pole vaulting, the form in which the final height is assigned by the athlete and coach, is the largest number of successful attempts to establish a new world record. The legendary Sergey Bubka is the author of 35 world records, and Elena Isimbaeva raised the bar to a record level 28 times.