Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?
Introduction
In this TED Talk, David Epstein takes a very close look at how Olympic athletes have significantly developed over time and answers why all the records have been shattered as time goes on. Epstein is an investigative reporter at ProPublica and has written a New York Times bestselling book, The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. Also, he was once a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. Epstien graduated from Columbia University and now specializes in science issues in sports and investigative reporting. Epstein gave this TED Talk titled, “Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?” in March of 2014 and it has been viewed by almost 3 million people.
Summary
In his talk, Epstein begins by claiming, “The Olympic motto is “citius, altius, fortius – faster, higher, stronger. And athletes have fulfilled that motto rapidly.” Epstein claims that overtime, Olympic athletes have done nothing but become faster, been able to jump higher and become stronger than ever before. However, he goes on to claim that this massive improvement is not just an improvement of raw human capabilities. In fact, if you look just at that, there would be hardly any improvement at all. One of the largest, most prominent reasons for the improvement has been to technology. With more efficient tracks, running shoes, bikes, pools and so much more, athletes have a much better chance to maximize their talent to the best of their ability and outcompete the old records held back in the day when track athletes were competing on cinders, not “specially fabricated carpets.” Additionally, Epstein claims that although humans have obviously not evolved into a new species, the gene pool within Olympic athletes has certainly evolved. For example, basketball players, who need to be tall, have gotten much taller. Gymnasts, on the other hand, seem to excel while having small, compact bodies. As Epstein says, gymnasts have gotten smaller by an entire 4 inches over the past few centuries. Clearly, Epstein does not attribute the massive improvement in Olympic athletes to performance-enhancing drugs. However, he certainly does acknowledge its presence. Epstein goes on to provide a specific example with Sir Roger Bannister, an Olympic marathon runner. Bannister ran in the 1904 Olympics while drinking rat poison and brandy throughout the race. Without a doubt, Epstein is arguing that the technology in the field of performance- enhancing drugs has increased at an immense rate. Not only has the technology of it all improved, but “athletes have gotten more savvy about performance-enhancing drugs as well”. All of this contributes to Epstein’s main claim that the athletes in the Olympics have evolved in many different ways. 
Olympic Drug Use 