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Are Athletes Really Getting Faster, Better, Stronger?

Since I had to write a blog on a speech or debate, and I don’t really remember any speeches from school, I went on Ted.com and listened to a TED talk. I choose a talked that peaked my interest and it was about sports. The speech was by David Epstein a sports science reporter and his speech was: Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger. David Epstein was trying to prove that athletes are not really gaining in attributes but are better because of three reasons: Innovation, Democratization, Imagination. 

 The first point of innovation he face an example of Jesse Owens and Usain Bolt. In 1936 Jesse Owens was the fastest man in the 100 meters, but if Jesse Owens would have ran with Usain Bolt he would have finished 14 steps behind Bolt, which is a lot in the 100 meters. This wasn’t because Usain Bolt was purely faster but because of innovations like starting blocks and synthetic tracks, Jesse Owens had to run on a cinder track which was pacted ash and he had to dig divots in the ground to start. 

 Biomechanical analysis of Jesse Owens joints shows that if Jesse Owens ran against Usain Bolt in new technology he would have came one step behind. Along with new technology people realized different body types were better for different sports. People used to believe that the average body type was the best but when this belief went away athletes became better. 

 Lastly Epstein made the point that people nowadays push themselves to new limits. Before people were scared that they were going to get hurt but now people can push to extreme limits, for example we realized that running endurance is actually good for our bodies.

All of the points that Epstein made, made complete sense. He didn’t try and persuade the audience with anything besides facts. He used Logos to show that the three points: Innovation, Democratization, and Imagination, were the reason athletes are better now. He used research and facts to persuade the audience, he didn’t try and persuade them with emotions like most speeches try and do.
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  1. Abby BartonJune 6, 2016 at 6:03 PM

    It is always refreshing when you hear a speech full of facts, statistics and science, rather than fallacies.

    ReplyDelete

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