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National Geographic : 1964 Oct
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Higher, Faster, Farther- How Vastly Olympic Records Debate over the "ultimates" in human abil ity prompted an American expert, Brutus Hamilton, to try calculating the answers sci entifically 30 years ago. An all-round cham pion in his college days at Missouri and a famed college coach at Missouri and Cali fornia, he was also to become head coach of a sensationally successful U. S. Olympic track and-field team in 1952. In 1934 he arrived at a set of supposedly unbeatable "perfect" rec ords for all standard events. Today only one of Hamilton's 18 "perfect" marks-2 7 feet, 4.74 inches in the broad jump -remains unsurpassed, although Ralph Bos 502 ton of the United States recently bettered it with an unofficial leap of 27 feet, 51/2 inches (page 490). The official world record, held by Russia's Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, stands at 27 feet, 31/4 inches, less than an inch and a half short of Hamilton's ideal. Why have carefully deduced theories of human athletic capacity been shot so full of holes? Does it mean that stars of 25 to 50 years ago would not be in a class with modern champions if they could return in their prime, with the aid of improved conditions? I have put these questions to many sports authorities, and I believe the most pointed answers come from Robert J. H. Kiphuth, Yale University's renowned swimming coach,
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