Are there really any shortcuts to achieving sporting success?

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

Even those with a passing interest in athletics noticed when American sprinter Noah Lyles trimmed a full 0.21 seconds off Usain Bolt’s 200m world record last week.

Given that the previous record had stood for over a decade, this was an unbelievable achievement – for a little while anyway.

Turns out the reason that Noah smashed the world record was that he accidentally shortened the distance to 185 metres.

The reigning 200m world champion thought he had produced the run of his life at the Inspiration Games on Thursday evening – before the blunder by organisers came to light.

Part of the reason was that, while this was a race, social distancing meant the competitors were on opposite sides of the world.

So, he took to the track in Bradenton, Florida, racing for Team North America, against Team Europe’s Christophe Lemaitre in Zurich, and Team World’s Churandy Martina in Papendal, outside Arnhem in Holland.

Competitors were connected by a live video and timing link and a split screen showed Lyles leaving the others in his wake.

In fairness, the rest of us would struggle to get 200m in a car in 18.90 seconds but we’re not elite international athletes. However, one way to crack the record is to shorten the route.

In this case, of course, it wasn’t the athlete’s fault, nor was it cheating – but imagine if competitors tried this a bit more often . . .  particularly if Covid regulations allowed you to pick your own track or field.

How easy would it be, for example, to set a new world record for the high jump by discreetly placing a trampoline out of sight of the camera but just around your launch point?

Or to attempt a world record power-lift by carefully painting two balloons the colour of dumbbells, like they used to do in the cartoons?

You could throw a javelin with a small rocket booster hidden in the tail – and no one would know because you’d get one of the family to film you doing this if you had a long back garden.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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