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My wife wondered if we are reaching the limit of human ability in athletics; I think we're only reaching the limit of people who actually take part in those sports.

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[-] foggy@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Im taking your wife's side.

Competition squeezes blood from a stone. There are very few world records that were set without intention.

To your side, you could argue that I am making your point. Perhaps some folks haven't been thrust up to the plate to take a swing, and thus haven't been tempered in competition. Also, it's possible that knowing what the records are imposes psychological limitations. For example, Ewa Kawakami, at 9 years old, did three back to back 900s in xgames skateboarding vert recently. Tony hawk asked him how long after his first 720 did he land a 900. He said "the next day."

I am still going with competition being requisite for peak form. There are exceptions, probably for stuff like Worlds Strongest Man, but something like sprinting, deadlifts, marathon, fastest playthrough of flight of the bumblebee, etc, all take dedication and competition to rise to the top

this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
156 points (93.3% liked)

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