Tall sprinters the future?

My bad for the double post. Hoping the mods will delete one.

Speed = stride length * stride frequency

So yes, clearly someone with a longer stride who can achieve the same turnover goes faster.

The problem has always been in accelerating and turning over longer legs, based on the simple physics of it.

Bicycles and automobiles have "short" and "tall" gears for different speeds - you can't start in 5th gear, nor can you do 80 in 1st.

Carl Lewis, at 6'2", usually started behind and closed through the finish. It took him a while to get going, but his top end was better than everyone else's.

Bolt has overcome this problem, but he may very well be a one time phenom.

The 6'3" Xavier Carter is another case, but he is (was) more to expected form and better at 200 and 400 than 100.

Sign up Shaq for the Olympics.

Terrelle Pryor at 6'6" will revolutionize the game of football with his amazing speed!!!!!

It could happen. In the past a 6' 5" guy would be channeled toward basketball. With Bolt's emergence, maybe now they will take a look at track & field.

Bolt is fast because of drugs, not height.

A few years from now, when the dentally-challenged Jamaican team is busted for being involved in a BALCO-type scandal, I will be laughing at everyone who created these ridiculous explainations for Bolt's speed.

Said Khalid Muhammad wrote:

Bolt is fast because of drugs, not height.

A few years from now, when the dentally-challenged Jamaican team is busted for being involved in a BALCO-type scandal, I will be laughing at everyone who created these ridiculous explainations for Bolt's speed.

I agree that he is on drugs. But it doesn't really have any bearing in this argument--why isn't a shorter guy on drugs like Tyson Gay beating Bolt, in that case? Or Asafa Powell?

I'm not sure the Jamaicans ever will get busted.

Carl improved from 9.92 to 9.86 when he should have been in decline, but he and his braces never got caught.

Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery were caught by circumstances, not drug tests.

Everyone knows Flo Jo was doped and the Chinese women were massively cheating, yet we have no proof of those.

So Bolt could be clean, he could be dirty and not get caught, he could get caught and given a pass for the sake of the sport, or he could get caught and exposed. Of all these, I think the last is the least likely.

Drugs + a physical specimen = greatness

But the second fastest guy is under 6 feet and Mo Greene was 5'9".

There is no trend at all that points to height = speed.

yeah, add Mo Greene to the list of sprinters who never got caught.

The PEDS argument is old and tired. We are shell shocked from all the cheating done in the past and rightly so. Personally I strongly believe he is not, but our beliefs really don't matter. The guy is young, winning every race he competes in and showing the world that he's having a great time. Until something comes along to stop that, I'm enjoying every minute of it along with the majority of folks.