The Holy Grail of track & field

What is the bread and butter of track and field, the 100-meter dash or the marathon? Critics differ over the two races because they are two very distinctive events. The 100 meters requires momentously explosive power and strength, and the marathon is a test of human limits through controlled endurance and perseverance. The sports market, however, seems to prefer the 100 meters. The bestselling product in the biggest track and field market in the world, the U.S., is the men’s 100-meter dash. The most expensive ticket in next year`s London Summer Olympics is the men’s 100-meter final (1.3 million won or 1,200 U.S. dollars apiece) among tickets for all sports. In things to see, 100-meter sprinters have to show a sturdy skeleton and ample muscles, whereas marathoners look rather small.

Differences in physiques between runners of the two sports stem from the ratio of fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. A 100-meter sprinter has well developed fast twitch muscles that momentously generate robust power, while a marathoner has highly developed slow twitch muscles useful to fostering endurance despite being slow in responsiveness. 100-meter competitors look big and sturdy because they primarily develop their fast twitch muscles, whose volume is large. Generally, black athletes boast well-developed fast twitch muscles while white competitors have advanced slow twitch muscles. Blacks also benefit from well developed and strong muscles from thighs to hips. Whites or Asians have never won a gold medal in any event of the IAAF World Championships, which was inaugurated in 1983. The record in the 100-meter dash by a Caucasian is 9.92 seconds by Christophe Lemaitre of France, a time not even within the world’s top 200.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica easily won Sunday the men’s 100 meters in the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011. Perhaps because his rivals Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay of the U.S. did not run along with him, Bolt failed to break his world record of 9.58 seconds. In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Bolt recorded a time of 9.69 seconds though he slowed down his spurt to perform a celebration at 80 meters, where he was assured of victory. He will probably set another world record if he improves the time required for starting, his biggest weakness, and goes full throttle to the finish line. Bolt has confidently said he can do the race in 9.40 seconds.

Experts say theoretically that if Kim Collins, who is faster in starting, runs to the point of 10 meters, Morris Green, the most powerful in the early part of the sprint, races to 30 meters, and Bolt runs the remainder, the runner could run the 100 meters in 9.35 seconds. Soviet scientists considered 9.34 as the fastest a human can run in the race. God gave humans a strong heart, high precision capacity for controlling body temperature, and Achilles muscles that effectively serve as springs. Speedy running is a basic instinct of human beings.

Editorial Writer Lee Hyeong-sam (hans@donga.com)