oldmantake wrote:
Why is it Nike's fault they innovate better than everyone else? Why do they and their athletes need to hold themselves back? There will always be an era effect comparing races from different eras, as all sports get better with newer technology. Going as far as to say 2016 should be invalidated is insane.
Track and field, road racing, and cross-country are supposed to be about athletes battling other athletes to see who is the best - not a proxy war to see who is the best shoe-manufacturing company. The Olympics (and other competitions) were conceived as individuals representing their home nations or teams, not their shoe sponsors.
Theoretically, the ideal state is for everyone to race barefoot. That does away with the shoe problem altogether, and would help preserve one of the best aspects of competitive running:
being able to compare times across eras, and being able to compare yourself to other runners without having to account for differences in equipment. But since widespread barefoot competitions are probably not feasible, the ideal should be to have racing shoes that are as minimal as possible - basically just foot protection.
Granted, we have already long since passed the mere foot protection stage, as for decades shoes have provided support, cushioning, spikes for grip, etc. However, just because our ideal is already somewhat compromised doesn't meant we have to completely give up and say "anything goes". We can call a halt to further improvements in shoe technology.
I think the new rules from World Athletics are a decent start. They at least acknowledge the existence of a problem.
And I'm not arguing against the vast majority of the shoe company business. Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Saucony, Skechers....whoever... could continue to do their thing, trying to come up with the greatest TRAINING shoes they can possibly conceive. People could even wear shoes with 100mm stacks and thirteen carbon fiber plates - on training runs. There can continue to be plenty of competition in that area. But once racers line up on the starting line, shoes should be a neutral factor.