Faster Higher Smarter: Bright Ideas That Transformed Sports
INTRODUCTION Faster Higher Stronger That’s the motto of the Olympic Games and it’s a great one It captures the idea that humans can and should push themselves to new heights and be the best they can possibly be But is it possible that the motto is missing something important a word that can help us not only reach those heights but soar beyond them Since we can’t just change the Olympic motto with the snap of a finger we gave this book the title of Faster Higher Smarter When it comes to athletic achievement smart is often overlooked It shouldn’t be Sure there are athletes who have a ton of natural talent and athletes who train harder than the rest And they’re amazing In fact they often break records but usually by just a fraction This book is about people who are even more amazing the innovators whose ideas changed sports by a lot Some were great athletes Others were just average And one was awful but he sure loved and changed two different sports Some weren’t athletes at all They were scientists and farmers teachers and security guards and bright kids who just experimented and discovered things But that’s only half the story If you think that sports are fun and science is dull you have another think coming Whether the innovators knew it or not science is the secret behind most of their work And once you understand the science behind what’s going on you’ll look at sports differently 4
You’ll see the connections between slap shots and pole vaulting or swimming and ski jumping You’ll know that how you sit on a bike is more important than how hard you pedal You’ll see how statistics and analysis can be used to build a winning baseball team You’ll understand how to go over a high jump bar by going under it kind of You’ll appreciate that not all innovations are positive and that some aren’t actually innovations at all When someone comes up with a great new idea everyone rushes to copy it Right Not really Athletes can be quick or slow to jump on board depending on how hard it is to change their old habits And the officials who make up the rules They’re a pretty indecisive bunch Sometimes they accept the new idea sometimes they ban it immediately and sometimes they wait a few years before making up their minds But none of that seems to matter Athletes will always push themselves to be better whether they are competing in the Olympics or in a local skateboarding contest Think about how you feel when you’re about to play a friendly game of soccer with your friends or swim a few laps in the neighborhood pool You want to have fun for sure but you also want to be the best that you can be You want to score or save one more goal than you did the last time or shave a few seconds off your time That desire to improve to be faster higher stronger is why innovation is here to stay 5
Chapter 1 HIGH JUMP THE FOSBURY FLOP Summer Olympics Mexico City October 1968 An energetic crowd turns out to watch the final day of track and field Although they don’t know it yet they are in for a wild ride The Olympic Committee declares that the high jump final will start at a height of 6 feet 6 inches This is quite low for an international competition and the decision guarantees the crowd a long event plenty of time as it turns out to notice the guy with the awkward-looking style Instead of running straight toward the bar and jumping over sideways like everyone else this athlete runs in a curve and ends up alongside the bar Then he jumps over backwards with his head first landing on his shoulders And that isn’t all before his run he rocks from one foot to the other forward and back forward and back for what seems like forever And why is he wearing one black shoe and one white At first the crowd laughs whenever he takes his turn but before long the laughs turn to cheers and the crowd knows the strange competitor’s name Dick Fosbury In high jump three failures in a row and you’re out By the fifth round of this competition five of the 13 finalists are gone and Fosbury is one of only two jumpers who haven’t missed a single jump Rounds six through Dick Fosbury on his way to a gold medal in the Mexico City Olympics 6
eight eliminate another five Fosbury and his American teammate Ed Caruthers remain along with Russian Valentin Gavrilov The nationalities of the final three are no sur prise to fans of the sport since 1887 only American or Russian jumpers have held the world record All three men make 7 feet 3 inches in round nine Then Gavrilov fails three times in round 10 with the bar at 7 feet 4 inches Caruthers makes it on his second attempt and Fosbury on his first He has yet to miss a single jump Round 11 both jumpers fail their first two attempts at 7 feet 4 inches Fosbury readies himself for his third try rocking back and forth focusing on the jump Then comes his unique run curving to the right and liftoff he sails over the bar with inches to spare When Caruthers fails his third attempt the gold medal is Fosbury’s and high jump competitions have a whole new look GOOD BETTER BEST Dick Fosbury’s strange style took the high-jumping world by storm By the next Olympic Games four years later most high jumpers were using what had become known as the Fosbury flop But what did it replace Before Fosbury captured the imagination of the public and his competitors in Mexico City there were two other jumping styles The SCISSOR JUMP is a simple style where you take off on the outside foot farthest from the bar and lift first one leg then the other over the bar Ethel Catherwood training at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam Born in North Dakota she competed for Canada Catherwood won the gold medal for high jump 7
